The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multi role fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) for the United States Air Force (USAF).
Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multi role aircraft. Over 4,500 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1976. Although no longer being purchased by the U.S. Air Force, improved versions are still being built for export customers.
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| Pakistan's Air Force |
Great Cockpit "GoPro Camera" video of final test maneuvers for graduation of the 308th FS, class 11-BBG at Luke AFB, AZ. - 9 minutes.
The F-16 incorporates many modern fighter innovations.
The Fighting Falcon is a fighter with numerous innovations including a frameless bubble canopy for better visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while maneuvering, a seat reclined 30 degrees to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot, and the first use of a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire flight control system helps to make it a nimble aircraft.
The F-16 has an internal M61 Vulcan cannon and 11 locations for mounting weapons and other mission equipment.
The F-16's official name is "Fighting Falcon", but "Viper" is commonly used by its pilots, due to a perceived resemblance to a viper snake as well as the Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper starfighter.
In addition to active duty U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, and Air National Guard units, the aircraft is also used by the USAF aerial demonstration team, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, and as an adversary/aggressor aircraft by the United States Navy.
The F-16 has also been procured to serve in the air forces of 25 other nations.
F-16s in the "Elephant Walk" formation.
The F-16's General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 49 ft 5 in (15.06 m)
- Wingspan: 32 ft 8 in (9.96 m)
- Height: 16 ft (4.88 m)
- Wing area: 300 ft² (27.87 m²)
- Airfoil: NACA 64A204 root and tip
- Empty weight: 18,900 lb (8,570 kg)
- Loaded weight: 26,500 lb (12,000 kg)
- Max. takeoff weight: 42,300 lb (19,200 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × F110-GE-100 afterburning turbofan
- Dry thrust: 17,155 lbf (76.3 kN)
- Thrust with afterburner: 28,600 lbf (127 kN)
The F-16's Performance
- Maximum speed:
- At sea level: Mach 1.2 (915 mph, 1,470 km/h)[57]
- At altitude: Mach 2[1] (1,320 mph, 2,120 km/h) clean configuration
- Combat radius: 340 mi (295 nmi, 550 km)on a hi-lo-hi mission with four 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs
- Ferry range: 2,280 nmi(2,620 mi, 4,220 km)with drop tanks
- Service ceiling: 50,000+ ft[1] (15,240+ m)
- Rate of climb: 50,000 ft/min (254 m/s)
- Wing loading: 88.3 lb/ft² (431 kg/m²)
- Thrust/weight: 1.095
The F-16's Armament
- Guns: 1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M61 Vulcan 6-barreled Gatling cannon, 511 rounds
- Hardpoints: 2× wing-tip Air-to-air missile launch rails, 6× under-wing & 3× under-fuselage pylon stations holding up to 17,000 lb (7,700 kg) of disposable stores
- Rockets:
- 4×LAU-61/LAU-68 rocket pods (each with 19× /7× Hydra 70 mm rockets, respectively)
- 4×LAU-5003 rocket pods (each with 19× CRV7 70 mm rockets)
- 4×LAU-10 rocket pods (each with 4× Zuni 127 mm rockets)
- Missiles:
- Air-to-air missiles:
- 2× AIM-7 Sparrow
- 6× AIM-9 Sidewinder
- 6× AIM-120 AMRAAM
- 6× IRIS-T
- 6× Python-4
- Air-to-ground missiles:
- Anti-ship missiles:
- Bombs:
- 8× CBU-87 Combined Effects Munition
- 8× CBU-89 Gator mine
- 8× CBU-97 Sensor Fuzed Weapon
- 4× Mark 84 general-purpose bombs
- 8× Mark 83 GP bombs
- 12× Mark 82 GP bombs
- 8× GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB)
- 4× GBU-10 Paveway II
- 6× GBU-12 Paveway II
- 4× GBU-24 Paveway III
- 4× GBU-27 Paveway III
- 4× Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) series
- 4× AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW)
- Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD)
- B61 nuclear bomb
- Others:
- SUU-42A/A Flares/Infrared decoys dispenser pod and chaff pod or
- AN/ALQ-131 & AN/ALQ-184 ECM pods or
- LANTIRN, Lockheed Martin Sniper XR & LITENING targeting pods or
- up to 3× 300/330/370/600 US gallon Sargent Fletcher drop tanks for ferry flight/extended range/loitering time or
- UTC Aerospace DB-110 long range EO/IR sensor pod on centerline
- Avionics
- AN/APG-68 radar
- MIL-STD-1553 bus
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| F-16s and F-15s patrolling the skies during Desert Storm 1991. |
F-16 participated Desert Storm bombing of "Highway of Death" as the Iraqi Army retreated from Kuwait in 1991.
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- 4 minutes.
On the main highway, aircraft bombed the front and rear of the massive vehicle column of Iraqi Regular Army, trapping the convoy, and leaving sitting targets for later airstrikes. When visited by journalists the main highway had been reduced to a long uninterrupted line of destroyed, damaged, and abandoned vehicles, sometimes called the Mile of Death. The wreckage predominantly consisted of stolen civilian vehicles (such as cars, trucks, and buses) which were manned by Iraqi conscripts and the Palestinian fighters, accompanied by their family members fleeing the advancing Coalition forces.
The Air National Guard's F-16 pilots embarked on a 9/11 Kamikaze Mission. - 3 minutes.
On September 11th, 2001, two Air National Guard F-16 pilots were assigned a kamikaze mission in order to save the nation's capital. Two unarmed F-16s are ordered to take down the fourth hijacked plane before it crashes into the Nation's capital. The plane eventually crashed in a open Pennsylvanian field.
9/11 and Beyond Exhibit. Focus on Camp's F-16. - 5 minutes.
