Reprinted with permission from Code One Magazine, January 1998, Vol.13 No.1

Anyone familiar with the F-16 Mid-Life Update program understands that Mid-Life Transformation would make a more apt title. MLU involves turning A and B model F-16s into the equivalent of the latest C and D models. Currently, over 300 aircraft are undergoing this transformation at four different locations in Europe.

These aircraft come in more than sixty assorted variations of Block 10 and Block 15 F-16s. The collection of materials, disproportionately called kits, used to modify these airplanes constitutes about 13,000 parts manufactured in twenty-two locations around the world. The kits are represented by over 750 system installation and structure drawings, 900 harness drawings, and 250 harness assembly drawings. More than 100 tools are required to install the new configuration. Over 120,000 pages of technical orders have been generated to support modification tasks. The MLU upgrade takes on the average 2,500 workhours per aircraft to perform. So upgrade seems a little trifling.

The transformation, however, is well worth the magnitude of the effort. The modular mission computer, color multifunction displays, advanced identification friend or foe interrogator, improved data modem, digital terrain system, electronic warfare management system, and host of other hardware associated with MLU extends the operational effectiveness of European F-16A/B fighters well into the next century.

Pilots from the four European countries participating in the MLU program are coming to terms with the F-16s transformed by the MLU program at Leeuwarden Air Base in northern Holland. They have gathered here to fly the first seven MLU F-16s in the operational test and evaluation phase of the program.

Lt. Col. Herman Koolstra of the Royal Netherlands Air Force is leading the OT&E effort. "I am very happy with the aircraft," he says. "The MLU F-16 is a great step forward for our air force. It boosts our capability to the state of the art, comparable to a Block 50 F-16 flown by USAF."

USAF Photo

Koolstra-himself an OT&E test pilot-and a half dozen other pilots from the air forces of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States are flying seven of the first nine MLU aircraft. The other two aircraft are being used in developmental testing in California at Edwards AFB. The first five MLU aircraft, called trial verification and installation aircraft, were modified at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth. The four that followed, called lead-the-fleet aircraft, were assembled in Europe. Developmental flight testing began in April 1995 with the first Danish and the only USAF MLU F-16s. (These two aircraft are fully instrumented for flight testing.) OT&E in Leeuwarden began in August 1996 just after the first lead-the-fleet aircraft were completed. Several production MLU F-16s have already been delivered to the RNLAF from its depot in Woensdrecht in the southern part of the Netherlands.

The overlap of developmental and operational testing is one unique aspect of the MLU program. "This has not been an OT&E in the classical sense," Koolstra explains. "Normally, an air force completes developmental testing and evaluation to find all the problems in a system before moving to operational testing. A few operational setups may be conducted in DT&E, but even these may not be possible because of limited assets. OT&E normally begins with the first operational software tape."

Conducting developmental and operational testing concurrently has both advantages and disadvantages. "Compressing the OT&E into the DT&E has produced some great benefits," Koolstra continues. "We are finding problems in operational testing that did not arise in developmental testing. Thanks to the overlapping schedules, we can fix these problems earlier in the program when it is easier and less expensive. However, we may have to wait for hardware more often, which is the biggest drawback. For example, we would like to test some of the communication equipment in a four-ship, but we did not have enough hardware available to put together an MLU four-ship until recently."

"This wasn't an OT&E to develop only tactics," adds Maj. Ronny Vaerten, a Belgian test pilot. "Initially, it was an OT&E to make sure all the systems worked, and worked together well. Later we began preliminary tactics development. We started last year at the end of August performing mainly radar operational testing. We flew as two-ships and evaluated radar performance and performed bombing missions at the range. In the last six months, we have done more tactics."

The mission matrix for the latest MLU operational testing consists of close air support, air interdiction, and defensive counter air missions, including four-ship combat air patrols and four-vs-four up to four-vs-eight missions against dissimilar aircraft to develop air-to-air tactics.

"We have flown against USAF F-15s and German F-4s," notes Koolstra. "We have flown many missions with F-16s from the 323rd Squadron here at Leeuwarden. The 323rd is our tactical training and evaluation squadron, a Dutch version of the Fighter Weapons School at Nellis. Their pilots are really keen. Having sharp opponents is the best way to test the capabilities of a new system. Flying against opponents who know nothing about the capabilities of the MLU aircraft-its longer-range radar, the track-while-scan modes, and AMRAAM-is not that useful. They just coast into an encounter and make very easy targets. The 323rd is aware of our beyond-visual-range missiles and other capabilities. They react accordingly and test us to our limits."

According to the OT&E test pilots, the improved radar and the AIM-120 AMRAAM capability have the largest effect on tactics. The non-MLU F-16s, now more often referred to as OCU F-16s, can launch and guide only one AMRAAM at a time. The MLU F-16s can launch multiple AMRAAMs and guide them at longer ranges with an improved version of the APG-66, called the APG-66(V)2.

"We have at least doubled our air-to-air capability with MLU," Koolstra says. "I won't say we are twice as good, because the outcome still depends on pilot skill. The system, though, is twice as good. The radar provides a thirty to 100 percent increase in situational awareness, depending on weather, altitude, and terrain conditions. The radar is a real bright spot in the program. It outperforms its specifications by a considerable margin."

"The biggest improvement with MLU to the pilot is the radar and the improved AMRAAM capability that goes along with it," agrees Vaerten. "Other improvements I like include the better navigation accuracy we get with the global positioning system, which gives us the ability to find small targets on the ground; the horizontal situation display, which increases a pilot's situational awareness; and the new radar air-to-ground modes."

Vaerten also likes the overall improvement in the F-16's pilot-vehicle interface that comes with the MLU. "The color displays, the new 'hands-on' throttle and stick controls, the up-front controls, and the wide-angle head-up display all give a pilot more information and more options," he says. "We don't have to look down into the cockpit as we did with the OCU F-16. The wider head-up display provides a better view of combat modes. The radar display in the MLU aircraft is placed higher in the cockpit. It is between the knees in the OCU, so we have to look down to see it. We can discern multiple symbols placed closer together with the color displays. Control of the interrogator, jammer, and anything else we need in the heat of combat is on the throttle and stick."

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USAF Photo

"The multifunction display concept is completely new for our F-16s," adds Capt. Mark Scheers, another Belgian OT&E pilot at Leeuwarden. "Our OCU F-16s have only a stores management display and a radar scope. The OCU does not have options for other displays on the screens."

"The MLU cockpit is totally different," says Maj. F.A. Evensen, a Norwegian test pilot. "A pilot needs a couple of months to fully adjust to the new cockpit-not just to fly the airplane with it, but to get used to the best way to employ all of the new systems. The automation takes care of a lot, but it still takes more effort to become comfortable with all of the new capabilities."

"The radar and the global positioning system were easy to incorporate because these systems are very mature," Koolstra explains. "We are still on a learning curve with some of the newer systems and with the systems unique to MLU F-16s. The advanced interrogator capability is coming along. The improved data modem has been a challenge, though. It looks easy because it is similar to a radio and modem, and a similar system already works well in the Block 50 F-16. But the Block 50 modem operates in an air-to-ground mode only. We've learned that air-to-air modes for such systems are more complex."

Many of these new capabilities are made possible by the modular mission computer. The computer replaces three other computers, takes up only half the space of the hardware it replaces, weighs fifty percent less, has faster processing with large growth capacity, and uses forty percent less power. The computer has forty-seven times more processing power and more than twelve times the memory of the systems it replaces.

"The modular mission computer is an enabler," Koolstra explains. "I cannot say the MMC has given us a specific capability. It has given us the ability to increase capability. The computer allows us to maintain room to grow, which is extremely important."

Growth will come to MLU F-16s in many forms, including helmet-mounted cueing systems, reconnaissance pods, and forward-looking infrared targeting and navigation systems. "With such potential," says Evensen, "we have to prioritize the type of development work we want to do in the future. Night vision goggles, a helmet-mounted display, and various pods are high priorities."

A more immediate priority for many of the European test pilots at Leeuwarden, however, is transitioning other F-16 pilots to the new jets. Most countries are looking at a six-month transition course based largely on the F-16A/B to F-16C/D upgrade course currently used in the United States. The transition training has to be modified to accommodate MLU-specific capabilities. "Typically, a squadron will become non-operational for six months," Vaerten explains. "Pilots go through theory and simulation training. This ground-based instruction is followed by a syllabus of approximately forty flights, which takes them to operational status. This syllabus may differ a little for each country.

"For Belgium, the last F-16 will be upgraded in 2003," Vaerten continues. "We are upgrading six squadrons of aircraft, so pilot conversion won't be completed for another four or five years. Our air-defense squadron will be the first to convert, so they have the most immediate interest in MLU. They want to know how the new capabilities affect tactics. They're also interested in specifics, like radar detection ranges and scramble procedures."

Any description of the MLU program can't avoid the multinational cooperation that underpins it. The OT&E operation at Leeuwarden could pass as a UN conference for F-16 pilots, contractor representatives, and maintenance personnel. Belgians, Danish, Dutch, Norwegians, and Americans work together in a friendly and near seamless atmosphere. Briefings are always in English, the language common to all participants.

"From a logistics viewpoint, it would have been easier to organize a testing program within a single country," notes Koolstra. "On the other hand, working this program with only two Dutch aircraft would have been totally unrealistic. Thanks to the international cooperation, we have seven aircraft dedicated to our efforts. But a successful OT&E is not a simple matter of bringing together some aircraft, pilots, and maintenance personnel. We have great support from Lockheed Martin and the F-16 SPO at Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio. We also have links with the MLU development testing at Edwards AFB in California. We deal with many inputs from a large number of participants."

Country differences must still be addressed in these dealings. "The electronic warfare equipment is different for the four nations," notes Vaerten. "Most of us come from different experience levels and through different training. We have operating procedures with some minor differences that make working across air forces more difficult. Everyone here must communicate regularly with their own air staffs back home, which takes a lot of time. But these impediments are outweighed by the advantages. Each country is too small to do an OT&E by itself. We can pull this off only by combining resources. We couldn't put up a Belgium-only four ship. It takes all four countries to contribute to the effort to complete it on schedule."

"We have never had the coordination that we have with the F-16 program," adds Lt. Per Schmock, a Danish MLU test pilot at Leeuwarden. "The more countries that fly this fighter, the better. We all benefit from experience. We used to fly Drakens in Denmark. Even though other air forces flew this airplane, they kept information to themselves. When our Draken airframes ran out of service life, for example, we had to do all of the service life extensions ourselves. In Falcon UP [a service life extension for the F-16 airframe], we benefited by the experiences from all the countries.

"A small air force can convert to a mature airplane easier than it can develop a new one," Schmock continues. "We see this at the system level in the MLU. The mods that have already been incorporated by USAF have given us the least amount of trouble in our operational testing here at Leeuwarden.

"MLU is a huge success on many terms," Schmock sums up. "The international cooperation we have here is unmatched. I have developed some good connections and built some friendships. It is a lot easier to pick up the phone and call someone you have worked with."

Similar international friendships have been formed between companies producing all the hardware and software that comprise MLU. Technology is supplied by corporations in six countries: Fabrisys, SABCA, and Sonaca in Belgium; Nea Lindberg, Per Udsen, and Terma in Denmark; Signaal and Fokker in the Netherlands; BASE and GEC in the United Kingdom; TEAC in Japan; and E-Systems, Fairchild, Hazeltine, Honeywell, Lear Astronics, Litton, Lockheed Martin, and Texas Instruments in the United States.

MLU's multinational mix may get a little thicker in the coming years as several other countries, including Portugal, consider upgrading their F-16s with the latest capabilities. MLU is also under consideration by several countries in central Europe as an inexpensive method for incorporating F-16s into their air forces.

Eric Hehs