F-16 Fighting Falcon

Overview:

The Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force. Designed as a lightweight, day-time Visual Flight Rules (VFR) fighter, it evolved into a successful multirole aircraft. The Falcon's versatility is a paramount reason it has proven a success on the export market, having been selected to serve in the air forces of 25 nations. The F-16 is the largest Western jet fighter program with over 4,400 aircraft built since production was approved in 1976. Though no longer being bought by the U.S. Air Force, advanced versions are still being built for export customers. In 1993, General Dynamics sold its aircraft manufacturing business to the Lockheed Corporation, which in turn became part of Lockheed Martin after a 1995 merger with Martin Marietta. The Fighting Falcon is a dogfighter with numerous innovations including a frameless, bubble canopy for better visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while under high g-forces, and reclined seat to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot. The F-16 has an internal M61 Vulcan cannon and has 11 hardpoints for mounting various missiles, bombs and pods. It was also the first fighter aircraft deliberately built to sustain 9-g turns. It has a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than one, providing power to climb and accelerate vertically — if necessary. Although the F-16's official name is "Fighting Falcon", it is known to its pilots as the "Viper", due to it resembling a cobra snake and after the Battlestar Galactica starfighter. It is used by the Thunderbirds air demonstration team. The F-16 is scheduled to remain in service with the U.S. Air Force until 2025. The planned replacement is the F-35 Lightning II, which is scheduled to enter service in 2011 and will gradually begin replacing a number of multirole aircraft among the air. The F-16 is a single-engined, supersonic, multi-role tactical aircraft. The F-16 was designed to be a cost-effective combat "workhorse" that can perform various kinds of missions and maintain around-the-clock readiness. It is much smaller and lighter than its predecessors, but uses advanced aerodynamics and avionics, including the first use of a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire (RSS/FBW) flight control system, to achieve enhanced maneuver performance. Highly nimble, the F-16 can pull 9-g maneuvers and can reach a maximum speed of over Mach 2. F-16 on the hardstand at McChord AFB, Washington. The F-16 is equipped with an M61 Vulcan 20 mm cannon in the left wing root with the F-16A distinguished by having four vents behind the port for the M61 cannon whereas the subsequent F-16C has only two vents behind the cannon port. Early models could also be armed with up to six AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking short-range air-to-air missiles (AAM), including a single missile mounted on a dedicated rail launcher on each wingtip. Some variants can also employ the AIM-7 Sparrow long-range radar-guided AAM, and more recent versions can be equipped with the AIM-120 AMRAAM. It can also carry other AAM; a wide variety of air-to-ground missiles, rockets or bombs; electronic countermeasures (ECM), navigation, targeting or weapons pods; and fuel tanks on eleven hardpoints – six under the wings, two on wingtips and three under the fuselage. The F-16A/B was originally equipped with the Westinghouse (now Northrop Grumman) solid-state AN/APG-66 pulse-Doppler fire-control radar. Its slotted planar-array antenna was designed to be sufficiently compact to fit into the F-16’s relatively small nose. In uplook mode, the APG-66 uses a low pulse-repetition frequency (PRF) for medium- and high-altitude target detection in a low-clutter environment, and in downlook employs a medium PRF for heavy clutter environments. It has four operating frequencies within the X band, and provides four air-to-air and seven air-to-ground operating modes for combat, even at night or in bad weather. The Block 15’s APG-66(V)2 model added a new, more powerful signal processor, higher output power, improved reliability, and increased range in a clutter or jamming environments. The Mid-Life Update (MLU) program further upgrades this to the APG-66(V)2A model, which features higher speed and memory. The mechanically scanned AN/APG-68 X-band pulse-Doppler radar, an evolution of the APG-66, was introduced with the F-16C/D Block 25. The APG-68 has greater range and resolution, as well as 25 operating modes, including ground-mapping, Doppler beam-sharpening, ground moving target, sea target, and track-while-scan (TWS) for up to ten targets. The Block 40/42’s APG-68(V)1 model added full compatibility with Lockheed Martin Low-Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infra-Red for Night (LANTIRN) pods, and a high-PRF pulse-Doppler track mode to provide continuous-wave (CW) target illumination for semi-active radar-homing (SARH) missiles like the AIM-7 Sparrow. The Block 50/52 F-16s initially received the more reliable APG-68(V)5 which has a programmable signal processor employing Very-High-Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) technology. The Advanced Block 50/52 (or 50+/52+) are equipped with the APG-68(V)9 radar which has a 30% greater air-to-air detection range, and a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mode for high-resolution mapping and target detection and recognition. In August 2004, Northrop Grumman received a contract to begin upgrading the APG-68 radars of the Block 40/42/50/52 aircraft to the (V)10 standard, which will provide the F-16 with all-weather autonomous detection and targeting for the use of Global Positioning System (GPS)-aided precision weapons. It also adds SAR mapping and terrain-following (TF) modes, as well as interleaving of all modes. The F-16E/F is outfitted with Northrop Grumman’s AN/APG-80 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, making it only the third fighter to be so equipped. In July 2007, Raytheon announced that it was developing a new Raytheon Next Generation Radar (RANGR) based on its earlier AN/APG-79 AESA radar as an alternative candidate to Northrop Grumman’s AN/APG-68 and AN/APG-80 for new-build F-16s as well as retrofit of existing ones. On 1 November 2007, Boeing selected this design for development under the USAF’s F-15E Radar Modernization Program (RMP).

Specifications:

Role

• Multirole Fighter.

National Origin

• United States.

First Flight

• 2 February 1974

Introduction

• 17 August 1978

Status

• Active.

Primary Users

• United States Air Force.
• United States Navy.
• Belgium Air Force.
• Denish Air Force.
• Netherlands Air Force.
• Norwegian Air Force.
• Hellenic Air Force.
• Italian Air Force.
• Polish Air Force.
• Portuguese Air Force.
• Bahraini Air Force.
• Egyptian Air Force.
• Israeli Air Force.
• Jordanian Air Force.
• Royal Air Force of Oman.
• United Arab Emirates Air Force.
• Turkish Air Force.
• Indonesian Air Force.
• Pakistan Air Force.
• Singapore Air Force.
• South Korean Air Force.
• Taiwanian Air Force.
• Thai Air Force.
• Chilean Air Force.
• Venezuelan Air Force.
• Brazilian Air Force.
• Croatian Air Force.
• Indian Air Force.
• Iraqi Air Force.
• Mexican Air Force.
• Moroccan Air Force.
• Romanian Air Force.

Number Built

• Over 4,400

Unit Cost

• F-16A/B: US$14.6 million (1998 dollars).
• F-16C/D: US$18.8 million (1998 dollars).

Crew

• 1 pilot.

Length

• 49 ft 5 in (14.8 m).

Height

• 16 ft (4.8 m).

Airfoil

• NACA 64A204 root and tip.

Empty Weight

• 18,900 lb (8,670 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 (128.9 kN).

Weapons

• Guns: 1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M61 Vulcan gatling gun, 511 rounds.

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× IRIS-T.
• + 6× AIM-120 AMRAAM.
• + 6× Python-4

Air-to-ground missiles:

• + 6× AGM-45 Shrike.
• + 6× AGM-65 Maverick.
• + 4× AGM-88 HARM.

Anti-ship missiles:

• + 2× AGM-84 Harpoon.
• + 4× AGM-119 Penguin.

Bombs:

• 2× CBU-87 Combined Effects Munition.
• 2× CBU-89 Gator mine.
• 2× CBU-97 Sensor Fuzed Weapon.
• Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser capable.
• 4× GBU-10 Paveway II.
• 6× GBU-12 Paveway II.
• 6× Paveway-series laser-guided bombs.
• 4× JDAM.
• 4× Mark 84 general-purpose bombs.
• 8× Mark 83 GP bombs.
• 12× Mark 82 GP bombs.
• B61 nuclear bomb.

Others:

• SUU-42A/A Flares/Infrared decoys dispenser pod and chaff pod.
• AN/ALQ-131 & AN/ALQ-184 ECM pods.
• LANTIRN, Lockheed Martin Sniper XR & LITENING targeting pods.
• Up to 3× 300/330/370 US gallon Sargent Fletcher drop tanks for ferry flight or extended range/loitering time.

Avionics

• AN/APG-68 radar.