Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon News and Developments

It has happened before:

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Anyway, I think there is an error in the report, the later blocks of F-16 do not use mechanical gyros, according to f-16.net, should be RLG ......
 
It has occurred to me that if the F-16 can carry Harpoons/SLAM-ERs without any problems then I wonder how long it will be before Ukraine adapts their Neptune AShM to carried by F-16s once they receive them?
 
NMaude said:
It has occurred to me that if the F-16 can carry Harpoons/SLAM-ERs without any problems then I wonder how long it will be before Ukraine adapts their Neptune AShM to carried by F-16s once they receive them?
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It'd be a lot easier to simply provide Ukr with air launched AShMs for a variety of reasons and we should all remember that these are not some SDBs... I think they'll receive old Penguins and likely have Exocets at their disposal with M2Ks as well.
 
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Archibald said:
I'm gonna ask a very straightforward question... does anybody knows how many F-16s have been pledged to Ukraine so far ? I have four countries and 95 aircraft, as per the following:

-The Netherlands has pledged to provide 24 units
- Norway: 22
- Denmark 19
- and Belgium a (no longer unspecified) number: 30.

I had this feeling there were more countries than this four (and moar F-16s in the pipeline), for example Romania: but I may be wrong.
Somebody help ?
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And now Greece wants to dump 32 more F-16s on Ukraine, so that's 127 airframes ?
 
Turkey according to Bloomberg this week is reportedly considering heavily reducing or cancelling outright its purchase of 40 F-16 and 80 upgrade kits for €26bn in order to finance a €10bn purchase of 40 Eurofighter as they are unhappy with the F-16 modernisation cost and think they can do the work themselves for less. Also they think the F-16 cant match the Greek acquisition of Rafale over the Aegean and want the Eurofighter to overmatch.

https://theaviationist.com/2024/07/17/turkey-f-16-modernization/
 
Well, nothing to enlight the web more than the prospect of an Eurocanard dogfight (weapons off, Gentlemen)!

Also, regarding the Aviationist link:

This include a national mission computer, system interface units, cockpit upper front control panels, fuel hydraulic indicators, engine display screens, emergency indicators, national sound safety devices, national IFF (Identification Friend-Foe) system, multi-mode receivers, inertial navigation systems, interface blinding units, helmet integrated aiming systems, center cockpit indicator and color multifunction displays.
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What is a Sound safety device?
 
TomcatViP said:
Well, nothing to enlight the web more than the prospect of an Eurocanard dogfight (weapons off, Gentlemen)!

Also, regarding the Aviationist link:



What is a Sound safety device?
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The Greeks would usually like to flatter themselves by seeking Turkish attention but I honestly think the demand for the Eurocanard has risen because of the Russian encirclement of Turkey.

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I'd also like to remind everyone that the TurAF fleet has never been this weak (quantity-wise) since joining NATO. There hasn't been any substantial investment in the Air Force for the past 20 years if we exclude the continuing development of indigenous aircraft.

Every country in Turkey's neighbourhood has heavily invested in their Air Force, except Turkey as usual. This was eventually bound to change.

Btw, the rumored scale-down of the Turkish order is reportedly due to backlog issues; the Turkish side wants to re-open a line @ TAI and produce the aircraft themselves so that they can receive the aircraft sooner.
 
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TomcatViP said:
@snne : makes sense. But wouldn´t ordering F-15EX be more logical (communality of engines)
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They could hardly get the Senate to pass the F-16 deal, what makes you think those people'd approve a heavyweight air-superiority fighter when the majority of them have a hate boner against Turkey? Turkey is already developing a heavyweight fighter, why import an inferior product and allow foreign interference to linger for the next 50 years?

Moreover, I don't think CENTCOM and the DoS want to strenghten TurAF's posture that much either.
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https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/biden-administration-advance-small-f-16-equipment-sale-turkey-sources-2023-04-17/
https://www.defenceturkey.com/tr/icerik/turkish-air-force-turaf-interim-fighter-requirement-ongoing-efforts-could-eurofighter-be-an-option-for-the-turaf-s-interim-fighter-requirement-5186

You might also want to check the the thread below :

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/turkeys-f-16-project-liberty-Özgür-modernisation.37242/
 
https://www.flightglobal.com/defenc...mand-for-another-300-new-f-16s/159230.article
Sees potential of 300 new Falcon orders. Current focus on Thailand (close to choosing Gripen NG), Philippines (competing with legacy Gripen, decision going back and forth), and Turkey, while follow-up order expected from Bulgaria.

Up till this point, 12 aircraft delivered from the new Greenville facility and total of 19~21 aircraft expected to be delivered for year 2024. Current goal is to achieve 4 aircraft per month by mid 20's.
 
For some reason I had thought the F-16 had already reached 5,000 aircraft produced. Still, 4,600 is quite impressive on its own. Considering orders are still trickling in it's not entirely implausible it may match the number of F-4 Phantom IIs built. By the time the last of these new built F-16s (and F-15s for that matter) are retired it could be over 75 years since the first flight of the prototype. I'm not sure of what to think about that.
 
NMaude said:
I wonder how long it will be before number 5,000 is built?



I was under the same impression too.
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The FI article mentions that there is a backlog of 180-ish aircraft, so they will indeed need bulk of their projected 300-ish future order for it to reach 5000. If it ever does, I'd say within a decade by mid 2030s
 
"We're very proud of them. The trainees have completed the most difficult program required of a military airman. And the multi-role aeroplane makes this by far the most difficult training we have so far. All the trainees simulated combat with both F-18 Hornet and Typhoon aircraft," "Wizard", an instructor contracted by Lockheed Martin, the company that produces the F-16 aeroplanes, said.

"So, in front of you is a group of fighters who are going to go into the system, protect Romania's sovereignty and be great NATO partners."

"The Romanian trainees have quickly completed over 200 hours of theoretical training, over 500 hours of simulator training and over 400 hours of flying. They are now fully prepared for all types of missions", Gabriel Nicușor Anghel, advisor to the Minister of Defence, explained.

"During this course, the trainee pilots learned not only how to operate an advanced fighter, but also how to use team intelligence while executing modern air-to-air and air-to-ground flight tactics," Kathleen Kavalec, US Ambassador to Romania, added.
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https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/...pilots-trained-at-the-fetesti-training-centre
 
aonestudio said:
https://www.sandboxx.us/news/f-16s-carrying-the-a-10s-30mm-cannon-actually-saw-combat/
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Alex Hollings from Sandboxx has a video about that:


The A-10 Thunderbolt II, better known as the Warthog, is renowned for its massive 30mm GAU-8 Avenger rotary cannon. But for a short time in the twilight of the Cold War, the Air Force wanted to know if it could replace the low-and-slow Warthog by strapping a variant of the same massive gun to the light-and-nimble F-16.
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Let's talk about the A-16, the F/A-16, and the 30mm gunpod these efforts produced.
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