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2h ago

L3Harris Completes First 35 Viper Shield EW Systems and Assembles First Production Pod

Large allied orders and about $1 billion in partner funding set the program up to scale toward full-rate production and lower entry costs for new buyers.

Interesting Engineering
Pictured is a U.S. Air Force photos of Air National Guard personnel with the 152nd Fighter Squadron Aircraft Maintenance Unit loading munitions on an F-16 fighter during the annual weapons load competition at Morris Air National Guard Base, Ariz. on May 1.
Render of the Viper Shield pod. (Image credit: L3Harris)

Overview

  • L3Harris said on Friday that it has finished the first 35 Viper Shield electronic-warfare systems and has assembled the first pod using production-standard hardware as the program moves into early production.
  • The company reports 233 systems on order from eight allied nations, giving the line a steady demand base as manufacturing ramps up toward full-rate production.
  • Viper Shield is a software-defined suite that uses DRWR detection and DRFM-based jamming and shares the same hardware between internal Block 70/72 installs and an external pod for older F-16s.
  • Flight testing since 2025, including joint F-16C/D trials at Edwards AFB in August 2026, has validated integration with F-16 avionics and APG-83 AESA radar but public reports do not disclose specific detection or jamming performance metrics.
  • L3Harris says roughly $1 billion of operator investment has funded development, testing, and early production, which could reduce upfront costs for potential U.S. Air Force or Air National Guard participation and speed wider fleet upgrades.