F-16 Fighting FalconLockheed Martin's Multirole Fighter, USA

Introduction The General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-

engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United

States Air Force (USAF).

The F-16 and the F-15 Eagle were the world's first aircraft able to withstand higher g-

forces than the pilots.

The Fighting Falcon has key features including a frameless bubble canopy for better

visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while maneuvering, a seat reclined 30

degrees to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot, and the first use of a relaxed static

stability/fly-by-wire flight control system helps to make it a nimble aircraft.

The Fighting Falcon entered service in 1979 with more than 2,000 in service with the

USAF and 2,000 operational with 25 other countries.

Design The aircraft is powered by a single engine: the General Electric F110-GE-129 or Pratt and

Whitney F100-PW-229.

The fuel supply is equipped with an inert gas anti-fire system. An inflight refueling probe is

installed in the top of the fuselage.

Advanced equipment being fitted on the current build of the F-16 includes Honeywell

colour flat-panel liquid crystal multifunction displays, digital terrain system, modular

mission computer, colour video camera to record the pilot's view of the head-up display

(HUD), a colour triple-deck video recorder and an enhanced programmable display

generator.

USAF F-16 aircraft are scheduled to receive the Boeing joint helmet-mounted cueing

system (JHMCS).

Features The F-16 was the first operational US aircraft to receive a global positioning system

(GPS). The aircraft has an inertial navigation system, either a Northrop Grumman (Litton)

LN-39, LN-93 ring laser gyroscope or Honeywell H-423.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon carries the Lockheed Martin LANTIRN infrared navigation and

targeting system.

The Northrop Grumman AN/APG-68 radar provides 25 separate air-to-air and air-to-

ground modes, including long-range, all-aspect detection and tracking, simultaneous

multiple-target tracking, and high-resolution ground mapping.

Lockheed Martin has completed developmental flight testing on new conformal fuel tanks

(CFT) for the F-16, which will significantly add to the aircraft's mission radius.

Weapons The aircraft has nine hardpoints for weapons payloads: one at each wing tip, three under

each wing and one centre line under the fuselage.

The ordnance is launched from Raytheon LAU-88 launchers, MAU-12 and Orgen bombejector racks.

The port wing is fitted with a 20mm General Electric M61A1 multi-barrel cannon and thegun sight is interfaced to the cockpit HUD.

Air-to-surface missiles carried on the F-16 include Maverick, HARM and Shrike missiles,manufactured by Raytheon, and anti-ship missiles include Boeing Harpoon andKongsberg Penguin.

The F-16 can be fitted with Lockheed Martin wind-corrected munitions dispenser (WCMD),which provides precision guidance for CBU-87, -89, and 97 cluster munitions.

SpecificationsGeneral characteristics

Length: 49 ft 5 in (15.06 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 8 in (9.96 m)

Height: 16 ft (4.88 m)

Wing area: 300 ft² (27.87 m²)

Empty weight: 18,900 lb (8,570 kg)

Loaded weight: 26,500 lb (12,000 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 42,300 lb (19,200 kg)

Dry thrust: 17,155 lbf (76.3 kN)

Thrust with afterburner: 28,600 lbf (127 kN)

Performance Maximum speed:

At sea level: Mach 1.2 (915 mph, 1,470 km/h)

At altitude: Mach 2 (1,320 mph, 2,120 km/h) clean configuration

Combat radius: 340 mi (295 nmi, 550 km) on a hi-lo-hi mission

Ferry range: 2,280 nmi (2,620 mi, 4,220 km) with drop tanks

Service ceiling: 50,000+ ft (15,240+ m)

Rate of climb: 50,000 ft/min (254 m/s)

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-

16_Fighting_Falcon

http://www.lockheedmartin.co.in/us/products/f16.ht

ml

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/f16/

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