L3Harris Completes First 35 Viper Shield Production Units

L3Harris Technologies has completed manufacturing the first 35 production units of its Viper Shield electronic warfare system, initiating a production ramp-up to fulfill a 233-unit backlog for international F-16 Fighting Falcon operators.

In a press release issued on September 3, 2026, the company announced the milestone at its Clifton, New Jersey, facility. The event also marked the assembly of the first external pod configuration utilizing production-standard hardware. The AN/ALQ-254(V)1 Viper Shield currently stands as the only F-16 electronic warfare suite in active production.

Fulfilling the international backlog

L3Harris is scaling operations to meet demand from eight allied nations that have collectively ordered 233 Viper Shield systems. These international operators have contributed to a $1 billion shared investment funding the development, laboratory testing, flight testing, and current production of the suite.

“The foreign investment is funding development, lab testing, flight testing and current production of Viper Shield systems, which presents the United States with a savings opportunity to avoid upfront costs,” said Chris Aebli, President, Communications & Spectrum Dominance, L3Harris.

Aebli noted that this shared investment means the U.S. Air-Forces and Air National Guard could benefit from joining the program without bearing the initial development burden.

Recent flight testing and fleet integration

The production milestone follows a series of recent technical and commercial validations for the Viper Shield program. On August 5, 2026, L3Harris reported the completion of two-ship flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. During these tests, F-16C and F-16D models flew together with Viper Shield hardware to validate the digital architecture and real-time response capabilities in multi-aircraft scenarios.

Shortly after the Edwards Air Force Base tests, the government of Peru officially selected the Viper Shield system on August 18, 2026, for its incoming F-16 Block 70 fleet. The system is designed to be fully interoperable with the APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, a standard component of the Block 70/72 configuration and a common upgrade for legacy F-16 airframes.

AirPro News analysis

We note that L3Harris is leveraging international procurement to mature the Viper Shield system before heavily marketing it to domestic operators. By relying on foreign military sales to fund the $1 billion development and testing phase, the manufacturer has effectively de-risked the AN/ALQ-254(V)1 for the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard. As legacy F-16 fleets undergo radar upgrades to the APG-83 AESA, the interoperability of the Viper Shield positions it as a logical bolt-on enhancement for operators looking to modernize their electronic warfare capabilities without funding a clean-sheet development program.

Sources: L3Harris Technologies