BLUF
Twenty-five nations operate around 3,000 F16s—the Fighting Falcon is a multirole fighter aircraft capable of performing air-to-air combat, air-to-ground strikes, reconnaissance, and air defence.Summary
Peter Suciu writing in 19FortyFive, makes the following points:
- It costs around half an F15 but with a reduced range (1700 vs 5552 km) and payload.
- Fourth generation fighter.
- Bahrain, Bulgaria, Jordan and Taiwan are purchasing more.
- Expected service life until at least 2060.
References
Recent Runway Posts related to this topic:
- Exercise Pitch Black begins in Darwin after COVID hiatus, with Germany, Japan and South Korea joining for the first time- The Runway (airforce.gov.au)
- South Korea, Japan discuss goals at Australia’s Pitch Black exercise - The Runway (airforce.gov.au)
References from the Web:
- JAN 2023 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 fighter completes maiden flight: video-AeroTime Hub
- FEB 2023 Electronic warfare suite for F-16 Block 70 jets passes critical milestone-Shephard Media