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Archive for the ‘F-16 Fighting Falcon’ Category.
August 20, 2008 by admin
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has agreed to upgrade 42 Pakistani F-16 fighter jets.
Negotiations will be done later this year and then the contract for upgrading the F-16 fighter jets will be awarded to the Turkish company.
Continue reading ‘Turkish Aerospace Industries to upgrade 42 F-16 jets’ »
July 29th, 2008 - 1:08 am ICT by IANS
Xinhua
Islamabad, July 28 (Xinhua) Pakistan Monday received another batch of four F-16 fighter jets from the US, marking the completion of a package of US delivery since 2005. Lt Gen Martin E. Dempsey, acting commander of the US Central Command, handed over the four F-16 fighter aircraft to Pakistan Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed at the Mushaf airbase in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Continue reading ‘Pakistan receives four F-16 fighter jets’ »
By Bob Cox
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
The Air Force on Friday awarded Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth a $233.6 million contract to begin production of 24 F-16 fighters for Morocco.
The Bush administration notified Congress in December that it planned to sell the fighter jets, plus engines, associated weapons and equipment in a deal valued at $2.4 billion.
History The FS-X program
The FS-X’s origins can be traced back to the early 1980’s and the highly secretive Laboratory Three division of Japan’s Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI). There, studies were being carried out to investigate the options for an indigenous design, combining long range with maneuverability, to meet the particular requirements of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF).
t became clear that the pursuit of a completely indigenous design was unrealistic, and help was to be sought abroad. In October of 1987, the Japanese government announced that it was going to develop a derivative version of the F-16C known as the FS-X, to replace the JASDF’s Mitsubishi F-1 support fighters, which were to be phased out of active service in the second half of the 1990’s.
Continue reading ‘F-16 FSX/F-2 an F-16 Inspired Japanese Fighter’ »
Published: 04.20.08, 17:45 / Israel News
The Jordanian army says an F-16 fighter jet has crashed during a training exercise killing the pilot on board.The army statement on the official Petra news agency says Sunday’s crash occurred at 13:10 local time (10:30 GMT).
It did not disclose the crash location or cause, saying only that the Royal Air Force jet crashed during a “routine” training exercise. (AP)
March 26, 2008 (by Asif Shamim) - Air Force Times reports the night time crash on January 15th of F-16C block 30 #87-0347 from the 482nd FW was the result of pilot disorientation according to the accident investigation board.
The F-16 was piloted by Maj. Peter S. Smith from the Air Force Reserve’s 482nd Fighter Wing, based at Homestead Air Reserve Base, ejected, suffering a minor injury to his left knee. Smith had almost 700 hours of experience in F-16 and 2,630 flight hours overall.
His role that night was to fly as a agressor pilot and play “Red Air” with a fellow collegue against four “Blue Air” firendly F-16s the report went on to say.
Smith who was wearing night vision goggles lost contact with the horizon as he was turning 90 degree’s to his left while his jet was descending from around 22,000 feet to 12,000 feet. While descending in the dive he lost contact with the horizon and became disoriented. His senses could not judge if he was in level flight according to the board of enquiry. His lack of scanning of cockpit instruments also compounded matters.
Smith was so disoriented that when he thought he was turning upward in an 8.75G climb, he actually increased the steepness of the dive, the report said.
When the F-16 dropped below 1,500 feet at 375 mph, he decided to eject. The Major made contact with other pilots around 19.32h local time on his emergency radio and was picked up by a Navy Rescue helicopter about 82 minutes later.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 21 Mar 11:22 EDT (07:22 GMT)
Source: Defense News
JERUSALEM - Israel has suspended training flights on U.S.-made F-16 I fighters after finding a cancer-causing substance in the cockpit, the air force announced on March 21. The decision was taken “after pilots complained of a nauseating smell in the cockpit,” according to an air force statement.
The Israeli air force passed on its findings to Lockheed Martin, the plane’s U.S. manufacturer.
Israel had ordered a total of 102 of the jets, and received the first ones in 2004.
Once the full delivery is completed, the Israeli air force will have a total of 332 F-16s, defense analysts say.