Unbuilt F-16 based projects

[Christopher Wang]

As I said before,Shah of Iran asked for 250 [F-16] unit for his air force.

By the way, Shah requested for 300 F/A-18 at the same time.

Imagine an alternate timeline where we see F-16s and F/A-18s from both the United States and Iran flying against each other over the Persian Gulf. They won't necessarily shoot at each other, but they would go in a rough-and-tumble play dogfighting to test each other's skills and resolve.

 

[Yellow Palace]

Possibly F-18L at that, my man wanted an Ace Combat Air Force.

Historical Documents - Office of the Historian

history.state.gov 3.0 shell

history.state.gov

He expressed interest in 250 aircraft, required from the mid-1980s, to replace the F-4s bought in the 1960s and early 1970s. The types considered were the F-15, F-16 and F-18. The US denied export approval for the F-18L, as it wasn't in US service, and was sceptical about the case for the Phantom replacement at all.

I don't know what an Ace Combat Air Force is, but Iran's strategic goal was to be able to handle a Soviet invasion. That required much more capable armed forces than beating up Iraq and the Gulf states.

Dragging it back to the subject of the F-16, the desired Iranian procurement circa 1977 was:

• 160 aircraft for air defence, as part of a high/low mix with the F-14s. These are the aircraft that were in production, with pilot training under way.
• 140 aircraft for an expansion of the IIAF. These were requested in 1976 or 1977 but not approved.
• A further 160 required from 1985 to replace the F-5 in existing units.
• Possibly another 250 from the mid-1980s to replace the F-4 in existing units.

This has been discussed at some length in other threads. As has the F-18L.

 

[Archibald]

Total 710 Falcons ? This is twice as much as The Deal Of The Century, 348 F-16s for four nations.

 

[TsrJoe]

Thread 'Iranian Cancelled Acquisitions of the 1970s' https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/iranian-cancelled-acquisitions-of-the-1970s.23772/

 

[hesham]

From Flight 1986, a reconnaissance F-16.

 

[GTX]

From Flight 1986, a reconnaissance F-16.

This is nothing new and has been operational for years - see example:

 

[NMaude]

From Flight 1986, a reconnaissance F-16.

This is nothing new and has been operational for years - see example:

View attachment 746747

Was there ever a dedicated RF-16 model considered?

 

[GTX]

Was there ever a dedicated RF-16 model considered?

See here:

F-16.net - The ultimate F-16, F-35 and F-22 reference

www.f-16.net

 

[NMaude]

See here:

F-16.net - The ultimate F-16, F-35 and F-22 reference

www.f-16.net

Thanks for the link, it was very detailed. However what I meant by a dedicated RF-16 variant is an F-16 that carried its' cameras internally somewhere in the nose-section just like on the RF-4B/C/E variants of the F-4.

 

[GTX]

Thanks for the link, it was very detailed. However what I meant by a dedicated RF-16 variant is an F-16 that carried its' cameras internally somewhere in the nose-section just like on the RF-4B/C/E variants of the F-4.

I realise that was what you meant. As explained in that link though I don’t believe that anything like that was considered beyond initial thoughts and that rather, they quickly settled on the podded approach to give greater flexibility rather than a dedicated platform.

I suppose they could have gone the F/A-18 ATARS path but I don’t think the F-16 lent itself as easily to that and indeed, I believe only a handful of USMC ATARS Hornets exist anyway thus attesting to it not being an optimal solution.

 

[Scott Kenny]

Thanks for the link, it was very detailed. However what I meant by a dedicated RF-16 variant is an F-16 that carried its' cameras internally somewhere in the nose-section just like on the RF-4B/C/E variants of the F-4.

The RF4 had an advantage because the big radar and gun were right in the nose.

The F16's gun is not in a place that is conducive to swapping with cameras. The best option would be to replace the radar in the nose with cameras, but I think everyone decided that a TARPS pod equivalent was better than a dedicated recon plane.

 

[NMaude]

The RF4 had an advantage because the big radar and gun were right in the nose.

The RF-4s were based on the F-4B/C which never had a gun* and the radar in the RF-4s were significantly smaller than than the AN/APQ-72/100.

The best option would be to replace the radar in the nose with cameras,

In such a dedicated RF-16 I doubt the radar would be completely eliminated but instead replaced with a much smaller weather/navigation radar something similar in size to the original radar carried by the F-16 prototype.

*IIRC the first YF-4E prototype was a modified RF-4C.