Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon Developments

“We are very focused on reducing costs … for the F-16 and improving the product quality as we go,” he said. “This was part of Lockheed Martin's vision really to build a digital-based factory that works faster and smarter.”

The Air Force also plans to create a digital twin of the F-16 that will help improve sustainment and modernization efforts, Ulmer said.

“This effort really does help lay the foundation and the groundwork for a multitude of potential future efforts relative to F-16 digital engineering,” Ulmer said.
Click to expand...

AFA NEWS Digital Engineering Key to New F16 Production Line

AFA NEWS Digital Engineering Key to New F16 Production Line
www.nationaldefensemagazine.org www.nationaldefensemagazine.org
 
4811583f629c37231626572209849970.jpg


Leonardo expects the BriteCloud Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) programme to open doors for US sales of the countermeasure.

Leonardo has revealed that BriteCloud expendable active decoy Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT), led by the US Office of the Secretary of Defense, should soon see the countermeasure transition to a programme of record.
The FCT line of effort dates back to May 2019 when a BriteCloud 218 fitted into a 2x8x1in form factor was selected to undergo testing with US Air National Guard F-16 fighter jets.

Representatives from Leonardo’s Luton facility have already supported BriteCloud training for the national guard, covering areas like programming and launch trajectory, according to Mark Hamilton, managing director, Electronics, at Leonardo UK.

DSEI 2021: Leonardo's BriteCloud decoy ready to break America | Shephard

Leonardo expects the BriteCloud Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) programme to open doors for US sales of the countermeasure.
www.shephardmedia.com
 

Biden should slam the door on Turkey F-16 sale - Washington Examiner

Turkey has reportedly signaled its desire to purchase 40 F-16s from the United States and 80 kits to upgrade its existing F-16 fleet. The deal is worth $6 billion dollars and comes two years after Congress blocked the sale of more advanced F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. Congress took that action...
www.washingtonexaminer.com www.washingtonexaminer.com

Honesty, focusing on Erdogan today to assess this sale would be probably an error: the delivery of the first plane might well outlast his reign.
 
Some more details on the Turkish sales:

Speaking to reporters [...], Erdogan said Turkey wants a return for its investment in the F-35 programme and that talks on the issue are ongoing.

"There is the payment of $1.4 billion we have made for the F-35s and the U.S. had such a proposal in return for these payments," Erdogan said.


"And regarding this, we said let's take whatever steps are needed to be taken to meet the defence needs of our country," he said, adding that the new F-16 jets would help develop its fleet.
Click to expand...

www.reuters.com

Turkey's Erdogan says U.S. proposed F-16 sales in return for its F-35 investment

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that the United States had proposed the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in return for its investment in the F-35 programme, from which Ankara was removed after purchasing missile defence systems from Russia.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 
And more regarding the news reported post above:

www.reuters.com

U.S. says it made no financing offers to Turkey on F-16 jets

The United States on Monday did not confirm Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's comment that Washington had made an offer to Ankara for the sale of F-16 fighter jets but added that it has not made Turkey a financing offer for the warplanes.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 
US Congress could probably block further F-16 sales to Turkey:

news.yahoo.com

U.S. lawmakers express concern over reports of potential Turkey F-16 purchase

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democratic and Republican U.S. lawmakers urged President Joe Biden's administration not to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey and said they were confident Congress would block any such exports. In a letter to Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 11 members of...
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com
 
With negations of UAE F-35s still ongoing, has there been any updates to what exactly their “Block 61” E/F model is receiving?
 
Last edited:
Taiwan's air force last week suspended combat training for its entire F-16 fleet after a recently upgraded model of the fighter jet crashed into the sea in the latest of a series of accidents.

"They (the Chinese) are wearing out their opponent without firing a shot," said Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation.

Taiwan's air force in 2020 scrambled 2,972 times against Chinese aircraft at a cost of T$25.5 billion ($905 million).
Click to expand...

www.reuters.com

Exclusive: U.S. seeks way to speed delivery of new fighter jets to Taiwan

The United States is looking for ways to potentially accelerate delivery of Taiwan's next generation of new-build F-16 fighter jets, U.S. officials said, bolstering the Taiwanese air force's ability to respond to what Washington and Taipei see as increasing intimidation by China's military.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 
V8Interceptor said:
I've always wondered if; had the official name for the F-16 been simply "Falcon", it would have been accepted and referred to as such by the fighter pilot community.
After all, they had no problem with "Eagle"
Was the "Fighting" suffix added to the name of the aircraft as a way to avoid confusion with the Hughes AIM-4 Falcon series of air-to-air missiles? The -4F/-4G variants of that AAM were still in the ANG inventory during the F-16 procurement;they remained in service with the Guard until 1988 when the last F-106s were retired?
Click to expand...
I could be wrong, but as I recall, the "Fighting Falcon" name was conceived as a tribute to the US Air Force Academy football team, of all things.
 
The United States Air Force (USAF) Seek Eagle Office have cleared Leonardo’s BriteCloud 218 expendable active decoy for operational testing on-board the F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. The authorisation is one of the final stages of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) programme for the product, which is due to complete this year. The FCT, which is being conducted by the US Air National Guard, will open the door to U.S. procurement.

The BriteCloud variant given the green light by U.S. authorities, called BriteCloud 218, fits standard 2x1x8 inch countermeasure dispensers such as the AN/ALE-47 on the F-16. As well as seeing interest in the United States, Leonardo is in discussions with a number of other F-16 operators internationally that are looking to equip their fleets with latest-generation countermeasures without needing to modify the platform or perform expensive integration work.

Following a series of confirmatory flight trials with the U.S. Air National Guard this year, BriteCloud is expected to be approved for U.S. Armed Forces as an off-the-shelf countermeasure product.

US Air Force grants F-16 operational clearance for BriteCloud 218 decoy

The United States Air Force (USAF) Seek Eagle Office have cleared Leonardo’s BriteCloud 218 expendable active decoy for operational testing on-board the F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. The authorisation is one of the final stages of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Foreign Comparative Testing...
www.airrecognition.com www.airrecognition.com
 
Anyone else catch this? Seems like a really big deal for the Air Force.

USAF upgrading 608 F-16s to V variant​

In one of the largest modernization efforts in U.S. Air Force history, 608 F-16s – comprised of Blocks 40 and 50 – will undergo up to 22 modifications designed to improve lethality and ensure the fourth-generation fighter remains effective in meeting current and future threats.
Click to expand...
A number of the modifications have already started and will continue over several years. Overall, PoBIT involves six major commands, more than 18 bases, multiple companies, and contracts totaling approximately $6.3 billion.
Click to expand...

www.wpafb.af.mil

F-16 fleet undergoing largest modification work in history

In one of the largest modernization efforts in U.S. Air Force history, 608 F-16s – comprised of Blocks 40 and 50 – will undergo up to 22 modifications designed to improve lethality and ensure the
www.wpafb.af.mil

 
www.aflcmc.af.mil

F-16s to receive next-generation electronic warfare suite

The Air Force took another step in the effort to modernize the electronic warfare (EW) capabilities of the F-16 fleet. On March 10, in advance of a multi-million dollar contract modification award
www.aflcmc.af.mil

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – The Air Force took another step in the effort to modernize the electronic warfare (EW) capabilities of the F-16 fleet.

On March 10, in advance of a multi-million dollar contract modification award expected later this year, the Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate issued an Unpriced Change Order (UCO) modification to Northrop Grumman for the F-16 Integrated Viper Electronic Warfare Suite (IVEWS).

The UCO follows a $40 million Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) modification award the company received in June 2021 to develop an IVEWS environmentally and safety of flight certified prototype.

Over the next 18 months, Northrop Grumman will complete IVEWS – also referred to as AN/ALQ-257 – development and install the system on several F-16s for flight testing.
Additional development, integration, hardware qualification testing, and Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) asset procurement will support the IVEWS Developmental Test/Operational Test (DT/OT) and Operational Assessment (OA) in early 2023.

“This contract and overall program effort is vital to increase the protection of our F-16 operators as they execute their missions in contested environments,” said Maj. Charles Prichard, Chief of Electronic Warfare Integration within the directorate’s F-16 System Program Office. “In order for the F-16 Viper to meet assigned mission sets in line with the CSAF’s Fighter Roadmap and operate in certain environments, the fleet needs an advanced electronic warfare (EW) system. IVEWS lines up with HAF/ACC’s EW plan and recently became the solution that improves the F-16’s survivability and lethality against current and emerging threats.”

IVEWS provides a next generation EW system that is internal to the F-16 and interoperable with the on-board APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar. It is designed to Open Missions Systems requirements and provisioned for long-term growth capability to support future upgrades such as the Fiber Optic Tow Decoy, Adaptive/Cognitive Processing, and Open System Architecture compliance.

A key part of the effort has been the use of the Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) approach which leveraged competition between defense companies to realize significant cost and schedule savings without sacrificing capability. This allowed the Air Force to strategically select IVEWS as the advanced fleet EW solution for the F-16.

The production and fielding of IVEWS is expected to begin in 2024.
Click to expand...
 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration believes a potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey would be in line with U.S. national security interests and would also serve NATO's long-term unity, the State Department said in a letter to Congress that fell short of explicitly supporting the deal.

Turkey made a request in October to the United States to buy 40 Lockheed Martin-made F-16 fighters and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes. Washington has so far refrained from expressing any opinion on the sale, saying it needs to go through the standard arms sales process.
Click to expand...

news.yahoo.com

U.S. says potential F-16 sale to Turkey would serve U.S. interests, NATO - letter

The Biden administration believes a potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey would be in line with U.S. national security interests and would also serve NATO's long-term unity, the State Department said in a letter to Congress that fell short of explicitly supporting the deal. Turkey made...
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com
 

F-16s to Serve Nearly Two More Decades, Replacement Choice Still 6-8 Years Away​


April 4, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Additional budget documents set to be released later this month will start to map an improvement program for the F-16, to support that type serving almost another two decades.
Click to expand...
Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom told Air Force Magazine in an interview. The jet will continue to be USAF’s low-end, multipurpose force builder.
Click to expand...
Rather than a high-low mix, Nahom said USAF’s future fighter force structure would be better described as a bell curve with the bulk being low/medium capability F-16s and medium/high capability F-35s. At the very low end would be a small number of aircraft only able to operate in permissive environments while the upper end would be aircraft like the F-22 and the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, tuned to the most demanding conditions.
Click to expand...
“So now, the question is, what replaces” the F-16...
Click to expand...
All of that, he said, is “a question for another day. The good thing is, we don’t have to do anything right now. We’ve got 18-20 years of life left on 600-plus F-16s that are doing great work for our nation.”
Click to expand...
www.airforcemag.com

F-16s to Serve Nearly Two More Decades, Replacement Choice Still 6-8 Years Away | Air & Space Forces Magazine

Budget documents set to be released later this month will start to map an improvement program for the F-16 to keep it flying another two decades.
www.airforcemag.com www.airforcemag.com

Well well well, who could have imagined the Viper would be flying for nearly 70 years at the end of its life? At this point, why not upgrade them eventually with those juicy AETP derivative engines, and, maybe, Anti-Laser eXVS ala X-59 too?
Qjj3ljocAMiAjrQgjjmusytCnVi920-F-HDJxLqzcVs.jpg
 
I guess this puts to rest the rumors of a new 4.5 gen fighter (F-36 Kingsnake and such).
 
news.northropgrumman.com

Northrop Grumman Upgrades Radars for Air National Guard F-16s

BALTIMORE – June 10, 2022 – The U.S. Air Force has completed installation of Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) on Air National Guard F-16s to meet a U.S. Northern Command Joint Emergent Operational Need...
news.northropgrumman.com news.northropgrumman.com
 
X-39 said:

F-16s to Serve Nearly Two More Decades, Replacement Choice Still 6-8 Years Away​


April 4, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Additional budget documents set to be released later this month will start to map an improvement program for the F-16, to support that type serving almost another two decades.
Click to expand...
Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom told Air Force Magazine in an interview. The jet will continue to be USAF’s low-end, multipurpose force builder.
Click to expand...
Rather than a high-low mix, Nahom said USAF’s future fighter force structure would be better described as a bell curve with the bulk being low/medium capability F-16s and medium/high capability F-35s. At the very low end would be a small number of aircraft only able to operate in permissive environments while the upper end would be aircraft like the F-22 and the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, tuned to the most demanding conditions.
Click to expand...
“So now, the question is, what replaces” the F-16...
Click to expand...
All of that, he said, is “a question for another day. The good thing is, we don’t have to do anything right now. We’ve got 18-20 years of life left on 600-plus F-16s that are doing great work for our nation.”
Click to expand...
www.airforcemag.com

F-16s to Serve Nearly Two More Decades, Replacement Choice Still 6-8 Years Away | Air & Space Forces Magazine

Budget documents set to be released later this month will start to map an improvement program for the F-16 to keep it flying another two decades.
www.airforcemag.com www.airforcemag.com

Well well well, who could have imagined the Viper would be flying for nearly 70 years at the end of its life? At this point, why not upgrade them eventually with those juicy AETP derivative engines, and, maybe, Anti-Laser eXVS ala X-59 too?
Qjj3ljocAMiAjrQgjjmusytCnVi920-F-HDJxLqzcVs.jpg
Click to expand...
I would agree more fuel efficient engines for longer legs, but the 16 hardly needs more thrust. Idk but I have a hard time fathoming another 20 years of vipers. Other than Homeland defense, where are they going to operate without being flying radar reflectors? And we're going to retire raptors that are decades younger and magnitudes of order more capable? Our leadership's decisions are more deadly than the Chinese at this point. You built the the f35 now just buy the damned thing.
 
A lot of countries seem to be divesting themselves of older models, do people think a country like Ukraine might be a possible destination for these?
 
Crossing fingers. I see myself a lot of the adversary stuff as a good candidate for this (upgraded system, including sometime AESA radars and completed stock parts, including unwanted French missiles!).
 
JASSM fully integrated on USAF Block 30 F-16s

his is the first time a pre-block F-16, an older variation flown by 7 guard units and 2 reserve units, has been used to launch the long range missile.

“This was a significant test as it takes an older model F-16 and allows it to keep pace with and sometimes exceed the capabilities of younger F-16s,” said Lt. Col Dustin Brown, Director, F-16 combined test force.

Brown said tests like this are important in keeping the F-16 relevant in future conflicts.

“By validating the use of the JASSM with the pre-block F-16, we are ensuring that 4th generation aircraft are able to participate in major combat operations, and complement 5th generation aircraft missions.”
Click to expand...
www.dvidshub.net

AATC integration test of air-launched cruise missile enhances Air Reserve Component combat operations

AATC test launches a Joint Air-to-Surface Missile (JASSM) from a pre-block F-16, which is helping ensure that the aircraft is able to participate in future combat operations.
www.dvidshub.net www.dvidshub.net

www.dvidshub.net

Airmen from AATC load JASSM on pre-block F-16

Airmen with the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center (AATC) load a Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) on a pre-block F-16 for a test launch. This is the first time a JASSM has been launched from a pre-block F-16, a model flown by Air National Guard and Air Force...
www.dvidshub.net www.dvidshub.net
 
Flyaway said:
A lot of countries seem to be divesting themselves of older models, do people think a country like Ukraine might be a possible destination for these?
Click to expand...
No. It would take the UKAF pilots one and a half to two years just to be able to become somewhat combat capable in these aircraft. Not to mention, the UKAF doesn't have any kind of a supply chain/maintenance capability set up for western aircraft and their systems.
 
Longer term, assuming the continuing survival of the Ukrainian state, something like an initial F-16 buy of some kind looks like a likely scenario.
 
Opportunistic Minnow said:
isayyo2 said:
JASSM fully integrated on USAF Block 30 F-16s
Click to expand...
Welcome news. The article really bugs me though. "Pre-block"? Do they mean early block? AIUI all production F-16s were members of one block or another. Surely the only pre-block F-16 would be the YF-16?
Click to expand...

"Pre-block" seems to be the shorthand USAF is using for the surviving Block 15, 25, and 30 aircraft, as opposed to "late block" referring to Block 40 and subsequent models.

www.airforcemag.com

F-16s Could Still be Flying Into the 2070s | Air & Space Forces Magazine

The F-16’s sunset years now could come in the 2070s, or later, based on Lockheed Martin’s backlog of F-16 orders and planned upgrades.
www.airforcemag.com www.airforcemag.com
 
Sundog said:
Flyaway said:
A lot of countries seem to be divesting themselves of older models, do people think a country like Ukraine might be a possible destination for these?
Click to expand...
No. It would take the UKAF pilots one and a half to two years just to be able to become somewhat combat capable in these aircraft. Not to mention, the UKAF doesn't have any kind of a supply chain/maintenance capability set up for western aircraft and their systems.
Click to expand...
Yeah apologies I should have said in the longer term.
 

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