AN/ALR-56M Radar Warning Receiver safeguards F-16 Fighting Falcons and C-130J Super Hercules aircraft
BAE Systems is delivering AN/ALR-56M Advanced Radar Warning Receivers to the U.S. Air Force to help protect C-130J Super Hercules aircraft missions under contracts worth $133 million with the Defense Logistics Agency. The company has delivered more than 1,700 radar warning receivers for F-16 Fighting Falcons and C-130Js over three decades, providing situational awareness and self-defense capabilities that have proven themselves in combat by saving lives and enhancing mission success.
“The AN/ALR-56M has shown what it can bring to the fight, and it is keeping these critical aircraft relevant against evolving threats in contested battlespaces,” said Lindsay Gallagher, Tactical Aircraft Electronic Warfare Systems director at BAE Systems. “56M is a critical part of the fleet’s electromagnetic warfare capabilities. As a global leader in defense electronics, we are working hard to keep the F-16 and C-130J survivable and relevant for decades to come.”
The AN/ALR-56M provides broad-spectrum, long-range threat detection and adaptive filtering to isolate threat signals in dense signal environments. The system provides timely warning about modern search, acquisition, and tracking radars, and reliable threat response capabilities – allowing pilots to engage or evade threats and enabling freedom of maneuver in the battlespace.
The 56M combines agile receiver architecture with antennas and controls, and seamlessly integrates with jammers, countermeasure dispensers, radars, and other avionics. It employs high-speed digital processing, advanced algorithms, and digital upgrades to address modern threats.
BAE Systems has successfully fielded EW systems integrated with Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars on multiple advanced fighters for years. On the F-16, the AN/ALR-56M seamlessly integrates with the aircraft’s Scalable Agile Beam AESA Radar, achieving Initial Operation Capability in November 2021 after successful verification and validation tests with no degradation of operational capability.
