SERVICE: Air Force and Navy
DESCRIPTION: High-performance fighter aircraft.
MISSION:
The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact, multi-role fighter aircraft. It is highly maneuverable and has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. It provides a relatively low-cost, high-performance weapon system. The Navy uses the F-16N as an "adversary" aircraft against which Navy and Marine Corps pilots train in an environment simulating the real world of aerial combat. The F-16 is flown by the U.S. Air Force Flight Demonstration Team (Thunderbirds).FEATURES:
In an air combat role, the F-16's maneuverability and combat radius (the distance it can fly to enter air combat, stay, fight, and return) exceed that of all potential threat fighter aircraft. It can locate targets in bad weather conditions and detect low flying aircraft in radar ground clutter. In an air-to-surface role, the F-16 can fly more than 500 miles (800 km), deliver its weapons with superior accuracy, defend itself against enemy aircraft and return to home base. A bad-weather capability allows it to strike a target in adverse conditions. The cockpit and its bubble canopy are designed to give the pilot unobstructed forward and upward vision, and greatly improved vision to the side and rear. Avionics systems include a highly accurate inertial navigation system in which a computer provides steering information to the pilot. The plane also has a warning system and modular countermeasure pods to be used against airborne or surface electronic threats.AIR FORCE INVENTORY:
There are 804 in the active duty force, 150 in the Reserve force, and 634 in the Air National Guard.BACKGROUND:
The F-16A, a single-seat model, first flew in December 1976. The first operational F-16A was delivered in January 1979 to the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The F-16B, a two-seat model, has two tandem cockpits that are about the same size as the one in the A model. Its bubble canopy extends to cover the second cockpit. To make room for the second cockpit, the forward fuselage fuel tank and avionics growth space were reduced. During training the forward cockpit is used by a student pilot with an instructor pilot in the rear cockpit. The F-16C and F-16D aircraft, which are the single and two-place counterparts to the F-16A/B, incorporate the latest cockpit control and display technology. Currently, most active units have converted to the F-16C/D while existing A and B models will replace older aircraft in Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units. The F-16 is being built under an unusual agreement creating a consortium between the United States and four NATO countries; Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. These countries and the United States co-produced an initial 348 F-16s for their air forces. Final airframe assembly lines were located in Belgium and the Netherlands. The consortium's F-16s are assembled from components manufactured in all five countries. Belgium also provides final assembly of the F100 engine used in the European F-16s. The long term benefits of this program will be technology transfer among the nations producing the F-16, and a common use aircraft for NATO nations. Through this program the supply and availability of repair parts in Europe is increased and improves the F-16's combat readiness. USAF F-16 multi-mission fighters were deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1991 in support of Operation Desert Storm where it flew more sorties than did any other aircraft. These fighters were used to attack airfields, military production facilities, Scud missile sites and a variety of other targets. NAVY BACKGROUND: The Navy uses several aircraft to provide realistic air combat maneuvering training. The Naval Fighter Weapons School, commonly referred to as Top Gun, at Miramar, Calif., is a center of air-to-air combat expertise. The Navy uses the F-16N at Top Gun to teach the Navy's best fighter pilots how to become proficient at air combat maneuvering while developing and proving new air superiority tactics. The newest adversary fighters is the Navy variant of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the F-16N. The performance characteristics of the F-16N closely match those of the latest MiG aircraft.
