Winner Take All

After promising earlier this year to hold a competition on part of a broad F-16 fighter upgrade program known as CAPES, the Air Force has reversed its acquisition strategy for Active Electronically Scanned Array radars, the centerpiece of the F-16 CAPES modernization. The service announced on Oct. 11 that it intends to sole-source that development work to Lockheed Martin, the F-16's original manufacturer and the prime integrator on CAPES, a role it also received on a sole-source basis. Inside the Air Force reported in June that AESA radar development and production will make up about 75 percent of CAPES' total $1.9 billion estimated value.