The F16 is a single-seat lightweight fighter and attack aircraft.
It was originally designed to compete in the Lightweight Fighter (LWF)
prototype program. Of the origianl five contracts awarded; only those
submitted by General Dynamics and Northrop were chosen to build
prototypes. The General Dynamics company built the YF-16 and the
Northrop design was the YF-17, respectively.
The first YF-16 flew on 20 January 1974. In January of the following
year, the Secretary of the USAF announced that the design from General
Dynamics had won the contract and full-scale production would begin
soon. The original requirement of the F-16 was as daytime
air-superiority fighter was expanded to include a equal amount of
air-to-ground mission capability. This would make the F-16 a true
multi-role fighter in the similar but vastly superior likeness to the
venerable F-4 Phantom.
There were going to be a few "firsts" achieved by the F-16. One was
that it would be the first complete fly-by-wire (FBW) aircraft. Another
first was that it would be not only lightweight but very low cost.
Estimates of the original F16's cost run around 15-20 million.
Meanwhile, the F-16's big brother, the twin-engined F-15 was still in
mass production.
The
first development F-16A flew on 8 December 1976. The USAF indicated
it's original intent to purchase 1,388 F-16s. The first production
F-16A flew in August of 1978 and by the end of 1996 over 4000 F16's had
been built.
South
Carolina's Air National Guard has a long history with the F-16. The
169th Fighter Wing at McEntire ANG Base near the state capitol,
Columbia, became the first Guard unit to receive Fighting Falcons in
1983. The unit took its Block 10s to Saudi Arabia for the Gulf War in
December 1990 and brought all of them back home after flying 1,750
combat sorties in a variety of missions.
The
Swamp Foxes of the 157th Fighter Squadron, the resident F-16 squadron
of the 169th, have maintained one of the highest mission-capable rates
of any F-16 unit, including active USAF units. Last year, the 169th
claimed another first with the F-16 when it became the only ANG unit to
fly the Block 52 F-16, the latest generation of Fighting Falcon. The
wing will incorporate the HARM targeting system later this year to
complete a transition to the suppression of enemy air defense, or SEAD,
role. The 169th will then be one of only five such F-16 SEAD units in
the Air Force.
Lt.
Col. Dick Noble, the vice wing commander of the 169th, says the unit's
performance in the Gulf War and consistently high marks for inspections
and top scores in competitions explain the shiny new F-16s on the ramp
outside his office. "We have a history of superior performance with the
F-16," he says. "What you see on the ramp reflects the capability of
our pilots and our full-time and part-time maintenance people. They
made this success possible. Those new aircraft also reflect a
commitment from the leadership in the Air Force and from the United
States Congress to modernize our wing."
Noble
points to a recent forty-five-day deployment to Qatar as another
example of his unit's success with the F-16. "We deployed to Doha,
Qatar, as part of an air expeditionary force or AEF," he explains.
The primary purpose of an AEF is to practice and demonstrate an ability
to build a composite fighting force, fly to some part of the world, and
immediately sustain combat operations. The Qatar deployment, the fourth
AEF for the Air Force, was a baseline for future AEFs. It was the first
time a Guard unit participated in an AEF. It was also the first
instance of an F-16 unit participating as an air-superiority component
of an AEF.
The
169th took twelve of its new F-16 Block 52s on a direct fourteen-hour
flight to Qatar. Once there, the unit flew a variety of training
missions as well as actual combat-rated missions over southern Iraq as
part of Operation Southern Watch. Block 50 F-16s from Shaw AFB in South
Carolina as well as F-15Es from Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina
also participated.
"We
practised daily as part of AEF composite wing packages," says Noble,
who went with the wing to Qatar. "We had F-15Es going up and simulating
attacks on targets in Iraq with SEAD assets. Then we flew the
air-superiority role with four to six airplanes, generally sweeping out
and then setting up combat air patrols.
"We
went to Qatar in an air-superiority role, but we could have very easily
rolled into a close air support role with Mavericks and conventional
weapons," Noble continues. "We can carry HARM antiradar missiles and
augment the SEAD mission flown by F-16s from Shaw AFB. We can carry
precision-guided munitions with the F-15Es designating targets for us.
We were the most versatile airplanes in the theater and we had pilots
and ground crews for any of these missions. We gave the force a great
deal of flexibility with our airplanes."
F-16s
from McEntire usually carried four AIM-120s, two AIM-9s, two 370-gallon
wing tanks, and an electronic countermeasure pod on the centerline
during their missions supporting Southern Watch. "The airplanes were
loaded up pretty good," says Lt. Col. Jet Jernigan, the operations
group commander of the 169th. Jernigan flew many of these missions.
"We felt like we had the lethality to deal with anything the Iraqis,
Iranians, or any other force wanted to send up," he says. "Integrating
into Air Force strike packages as we did was good training for all of
our people. We learned a lot about current operations in the Middle
East."
The
AEF was an educational process not only for the 169th but also for the
Air Force. The unit educated USAF on the capability of their aircraft,
the Air National Guard, and on McEntire in particular.
The
range and fuel efficiency of the Block 52 was one impression left by
the 169th during its visit to the Middle East. "We ran some pretty long
station times," explains Jernigan. "It was not unusual for our mission
durations to be up around four to five hours. We surprised some folks
with how long we can stay and maintain a patrol to protect an area. The
performance and station time with the F-16 is superb. Particularly with
external tanks, the Pratt and Whitney -229 engine can be very stingy in
its gas consumption given its impressive performance."
"We
went into this deployment and the Air Force may have had some doubts
about the airplane and the Guard," adds Noble. "But by the time that we
left, they were firm believers. Not only could we do the job but we
also provided a lot of flexibility. The experience level and training
of our pilots showed as did the capability of our maintainers. The
superb performance of the airplane taught the Air Force that it has an
asset it can depend on at any time."
That
asset will soon be bolstered by a new system, the HARM targeting
system. HTS, as it is called, allows the F-16 to target antiradiation
missiles more accurately against ground radar targets. The system has
become synonymous with SEAD missions. The 169th expects to incorporate
the pods that contain the HTS into their Block 52s within the next two
years.
"The
targeting pods will greatly enhance our ability to accurately target
enemy threats," explains Jernigan. "Right now we can go against radar
threats, but some of the data is not available when we take shots. We
are a bit dependent on off-board assets to pinpoint threat locations.
HTS pods will give us that capability."
But
the SEAD mission itself is nothing new for the 169th. During the Gulf
War, the unit started out performing the mission against enemy
surface-to-air missile sites and other ground targets. However, they
performed it with F-16A aircraft armed with conventional weapons. "The
early A model is a great airplane, but it doesn't have a lot of
on-board assets other than the pilot," says Jernigan. "That is why we
are so excited about the Block 52. It is a much better SEAD aircraft
because it is designed to perform that role.
"The
SEAD mission, wherever we deploy, is going to be one of the first
orders of business," Jernigan continues, "that is, to gain control of
the sky and ensure that we can perform operations as we need to. The
suppression of enemy air defenses will be the job for the first guy
across the line. He is liable to encounter enemy airborne defenses and
enemy ground defenses.
With an array of weapons on board, we can engage anything with the
Block 52. The orchestration of the avionics in the F-16 allows full
hands-on control for a large variety of munition types. I can take
shots at an enemy aircraft while I am simultaneously engaging some
surface threat with a HARM. The F-16 is well mechanized. If you've got
threats in the air or on the ground, we're going to be the guys to
call."
The
transition from Block 10 F-16s to Block 52 F-16s gives the 169th a
unique perspective on the evolution of the Fighting Falcon. "The Block
10 was a superb aircraft for the 1980s," says Noble, who flew the
aircraft then. "But we've just made an astounding leap in technology
from that aircraft to these versions that we're flying now. The
capability is greatly expanded. The mechanization for the pilot is much
more intuitive. The radar can see farther.
In addition, the AIM-120s can kill targets at a longer range. Increased
engine thrust makes the airplane more survivable. I'm not talking max
afterburner; I am talking military power. It doesn't matter which of
the technologies or improvements you are talking about. The lethality
of this airplane is a quantum jump over what we had with the Block 10s,
and we were very successful with those airplanes."
Noble
has some advice for potential adversaries: "If you are a bad guy, the
best thing that you can do when the South Carolina Air Guard is around
is stay on the ground. If you are in the air, we're probably going to
know about it. And if you work at an air field, it is best if you don't
come to work that day. We have the ability to determine if you're a
threat to our operation and we will take you out."
"Our
biggest challenge over the next year or two is to maintain a high level
of readiness," adds Jernigan. "The world still has a lot of trouble
spots. We could be called upon at any time to go and perform a mission.
But our primary focus over the next year or two is going to be a solid
conversion to a primary SEAD unit that will benefit USAF and contribute
to the overall defense of the nation."
