F-16 Falcon Thread, News, Pics, videos

[Jeff Head]

This thread is for and about the F-16, Falcon, in its various varieties, including the new F-16Vs.

Pictures, videos, news, upgrades, sales/exports, information, etc.

The F-16 is the most prolific, most successful modern western jet fighter in history. Only the F-35 will have a chance (in he foreseeable future) to eclipse it.

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[no_name]

F-16 is like the western version of the Mig-21.

I did read that recently cracks were found on many F-16s that have clocked up mileage in service and that the US military have recently grounded them for further checked and warned exported countries.

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[FORBIN]

4540 built, 28 operators, about 2200 used by USAF and USN also.

The first prototype and the last version.

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[TerraN_EmpirE]

F-16 is like the western version of the Mig-21.

I think that title is held by the F5 Freedom Fighter. F16 is more like the Western Mig29.

I did read that recently cracks were found on many F-16s that have clocked up mileage in service and that the US military have recently grounded them for further checked and warned exported countries.

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They just issued a warning to foreign operators to check there F16B's for cracks. the D and B are both the "Trainer" or double seater model. the Additional length weight of the cockpit seems to have caused additional strain.
One of the lesser known users of the F16 is infact the US Navy who use it to play adversary in Top Gun. this is because F16 was until the F22A Raptor the Most agile of American teen Series Fighters.

 

[Jeff Head]

Here's a comparison of the US F-5, US F-16, the Rusian Mig-21 and Mig-29:

F-5 Freedom Fighter
Made by: United States
First flight: 1959
Number built: 2,250+
Top three current users:
Republic of China-165
South Korea-150
Iran-60
Current nations using: 15
Former nations using: 23

F-16 Falcom
Made by: United States
First flight: 1974
Number built: 4,500+
Top three current users:
United States-1,290 (AF-705, ANG-490, Reserve-55, USN-40)
Israel-330
Turkey: 242
Current nations using: 26
Former nations using: 1

MIG-21 Fishbed
Made by: Russia
First flight: 1956
Number built: 11,500+
Top three current users:
India-250
North Korea-150
Egypt-80 (approx)
Current nations using: 18
Former nations using: 43
Note: Does not include Chinese variants

MIG-29 Fulcrum
Made by: Russia
First flight: 1977
Number built: 1,800+
Top three current users:
Russia-290
India-95
Ukraine-80 (approx)
Current nations using: 25
Former nations using: 12

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

Thank you Jeff. As you can see I considered age, F5 and Mig21 were built inside of 3 years of each other. Users 15 vs 18, 38 at F5's prime 61 at Mig 21's prime vs the F16's 25 and Mig 29's 37. And add to this that when the USAF was looking to start it's aggressor program they used data they had gathered in

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and

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and discovered that in almost every way save 2 the performance specs were a 1 to 1 the single exception being that the F5's range of vision is superior and the Mig 21's cannons are more powerful otherwise they are almost totally identical.

 

[Jeff Head]

The new F-16V that Lockheed is pushing is pretty impressive. It looks like Taiwan will go for it, probably among others.

According to Lockheed:

In 2012 Lockheed Martin unveiled a new version of the F-16 called the F-16V. The new version of the fighter jet was unveiled at the Singapore Airshow that year with new feature enhancements to make the aircraft more formidable.

The F-16 V gets new active electronically scanned array radar (AESA), an upgraded mission computer and architecture, along with improvements inside the cockpit. Lockheed Martin says that all of those new features are things that have been identified by the USAF and international buyers as needing improvement. The AESA radar promises significant capability improvements for the aircraft and Lockheed Martin has developed a solution to affordably retrofit the new radar to existing F-16s.

The new F-16V configuration is now an option for new production aircraft with most elements of the upgrade available for earlier F-16s. The V designation comes from Viper, which is the nickname pilots have given the F-16 since it entered service.

“We believe this F-16V will satisfy our customers’ emerging requirements and prepare them to better interoperate with the 5th generation fighters, the F-35 and F-22,” said George Standridge, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics’ vice president of business development.

Today 26 different countries fly the F-16 and it is hailed as the world's most successful fourth-generation fighter. The upgraded AESA radar will also help F-16V to be more interoperable with fifth-generation fighters like the F-35 and F-22. The USAF is reportedly interested in upgrading between 300 and 350 of its F-16s to the new version.

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[Scratch]

Gents, it's been a while I guess.

That F-16V, in my understanding, is primarily a software / avionic standard upgrade that will be fitted to existing fleets, correct?
The big ticket item will be the state-of-the-art radar, keeping the jets on par with the sensing abilities of current fighters. Namely Northrop's SABR wich builts on the AN/APG-80, that already has it's place in the latest Viper incarnation, the UAE F-16E/F Block 60.
Additionally there's going to be new software wich I exspect will be integrating latest weaponry and comms / data-link equipment, keeping the fleets interoperable with other modern assets.

These Desert Vipers are the latest ones that have actually been sold, to my knowledge. And that's already been a few years back with now follow ons in the pipeline.

I guess the F-16V is very similar to the F-15SE in being the last hurrah of a very succesfull and long living legacy platform.
Maybe they can pull another contract for new jets with this, but right now I don't see one realisticly, the first aim is, rightfully so, the large upgrade market potential of the existing fleet.

Besides those UAE jets, the only ones that I've seen with those CFTs are Hellenic Vipers (Block 50/52).

Cheers ...

 

[FORBIN]

F-16 Falcom
Made by: United States
First flight: 1974
Number built: 4,500+
Top three current users:
United States-1,290 (AF-705, ANG-490, Reserve-55, USN-40)
Israel-330
Turkey: 242
Current nations using: 26
Former nations using: 1

Jeff, i think much i have in my notes, 03/2014 : 1020 about 620 for Active, 350 ANG and RES 50. For USN 24.

 

[Jeff Head]

Jeff, i think much i have in my notes, 03/2014 : 1020 about 620 for Active, 350 ANG and RES 50. For USN 24.

Could very well be so, Forbin. My numbers may be five or so years old.