Time has been good to the venerable, versatile F-16 Fighting Falcon
http://www.jedonline.com/default.asp?journalid=4&func=articles&page=0308j14&year=2003&month=8&doct=features&rsno=2This month Lockheed Martin (Ft. Worth, TX) commemorates the 25th anniversary of the first production F-16, but the fighter is not showing its age. In 2004-05, once again, the F-16 will be built in greater numbers than any other fighter. Two new versions of the F-16 are under development, and it is the subject of the US Air Force's biggest-ever modernization program.
A distinguishing feature of the F-16 is that Lockheed Martin has always offered the airplane in more than one version. Today the Advanced Block 50/52 competes with aircraft such as the Dassault Mirage 2000 and Saab JAS 39 Gripen. As its name suggests, it is an evolutionary development of the Block 50/52 series, compatible with the older aircraft in terms of training and support. Customers with bigger needs and budgets can opt for the Block 60/62, with a completely new sensor suite and cockpit; it is a direct competitor to the Boeing (St. Louis, MO) F-15E Strike Eagle and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Eurofighter (Halbergmoos, Germany) Typhoon, and Dassault (St. Cloud, France) Rafale where requirements don't explicitly call for a two-engine aircraft.
Variety Is the Spice
The Block 60 cockpit has three 5x7-in. liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) and an LCD up-front control. The symbology on the displays is very similar to that used on the F/A-22. Lockheed Martin photo
More than 200 Advanced Block 50/52s have been sold since 2000. The first of 60 Block 52s ordered by Greece was delivered in November 2002, and the same basic configuration has been selected by Chile, Oman, and most recently by Poland. (A Block 50 has the GE F110 engine, while the Block 52 has the rival Pratt & Whitney F100.) This year, Israel will start taking delivery of 102 F-16I fighters, based on Advanced Block 52 two-seaters, with some detail differences.
The Israeli configuration also forms the basis of 20 new aircraft for Singapore. The Advanced Block 50/52 has the Northrop Grumman (Baltimore, MD) AN/APG-68(V)9 radar. The (V)9 is considered to be the most important upgrade to the F-16 radar since the original APG-68 was introduced in the mid-1980s, and it is almost entirely new apart from the antenna. It should be considerably more reliable than its predecessor, with fewer parts and greater use of commercial off-the-shelf technology;
it offers an estimated 30% improvement in air-to-air detection range, and it has a synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) mode with a claimed two-foot resolution for air-to-ground weapon delivery. Combined with GPS-guided weapons (the F-16 can carry the full suite of US-developed GPS-guided bombs), this allows the F-16 to perform precision air-to-ground strikes in any weather. Apart from the Israeli and Singaporean aircraft, the Advanced Block 50/52 aircraft are equipped with the latest version of the Modular Mission Computer (MMC). The MMC was introduced on the F-16A Mid-Life Update (MLU) for the four original European F-16 customers - Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark. As it is fitted to an increasing number of Advanced Block 50/52s and retrofitted to US Air Force (USAF) F-16 Block 40/50 aircraft, a growing fraction of the worldwide F-16 fleet will run similar software. The result is that the expensive job of maintaining and upgrading software can be spread over a wider base of aircraft.
Elbit (Haifa, Israel) is providing the DASH 4 helmet-mounted display for Israel's F-16Is. The USAF will use the Vision Systems International (San Jose, CA) Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) on Common Configuration Implementation Program (CCIP) aircraft, and it is also the baseline helmet display for the aircraft ordered by Greece, Chile and Oman. The Advanced Block 50/52 is "plug-and-play" with the JHMCS, according to Lockheed Martin.
Israel will use the helmet-mounted sight with the Rafael (Haifa, Israel) Python 4 missile. Other new weapons to be cleared on the F-16 include the multinational IRIS-T high-agility short-range air-to-air missile: Greece is a partner on IRIS-T and will use the weapon on its aircraft. Lockheed Martin is participating in early firing trials, using an F-4.
Lockheed Martin's principle of supporting a range of EW options, rather than trying to force a single chosen solution on the customer, has led to the adoption of three different EW systems on Advanced Block 50/52 aircraft. Israel has installed its own EW systems on the F-16 since the 1980s and is believed to be supplying active jamming systems for Singapore's aircraft, but the exact systems used on the new F-16I have not been disclosed.
Greece has selected the Raytheon Advanced Self-Protection Integrated Suite II (ASPIS II) for its new Advanced Block 52s (see "Hellenic Air Force Inks F-16 EW Contract,"JED , June 2003). Raytheon will upgrade older ASPIS systems on Greece's older Block 30/50 fighters under the same contract.
The ASPIS II suite comprises the Northrop Grumman (Rolling Meadows, IL) AN/ALR-93(V) threat-warning system, the Raytheon (Goleta, CA) AN/ALQ-187 jammer and the BAE Systems (Austin, TX) AN/ALE-47 chaff/flare dispenser. The system has been modernized with the addition of digital-radio-frequency-memory (DRFM) chips. Active jammers will be acquired to equip existing aircraft.
Chile and Oman have chosen the ITT Avionics (Clifton, NJ) Advanced Integrated Defensive EW Suite (AIDEWS). Like the ASPIS II, the AIDEWS is a complete, automated system consisting of a radar-warning receiver (RWR) and active jammer. It is essentially a fast-jet adaptation of the AN/ALQ-211 Suite of Integrated Radio Frequency Countermeasures (SIRFC), which ITT developed for US Army helicopters. The AIDEWS should be delivered in 2005 to match the first Chilean aircraft.
Top of the Block
Singapore is seeking another squadron of fighters to complement its existing squadron of F-16s 
(one of which is shown here) and 20 new F-16s, based on the F-16I configuration. Other than the UAE, Singapore is the only country that has been offered the F-16 Block 60, which is currently competing with the Rafale, Typhoon, Su-30, F-15, and F/A-18E/F for the country's current procurement program. Lockheed Martin has been working on the Block 60 since June 2000 under a $7-billion contract from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (see "UAE [Finally] Picks F-16 EW Suite,"JED , March 2000). The deal covers engineering, flight-testing, initial support, and production of 55 single-seaters and 25 two-seat aircraft. The contract is due to be completed in mid-2007, and, according to Lockheed Martin, is on schedule.
The first Block 60 - there is no prototype as such - is due to fly in November, and production will be completed by the end of 2006. Flight testing, development, and training will proceed in parallel through a four-phase program. Standard 0, delivered in the second quarter of 2004, will be used for training and flight testing. Standard 1, from the end of 2004, includes almost all the avionics hardware. Standard 2 (early 2006) and Standard 3 (second quarter 2007) will each bring on additional software, functions, and weapons.
The first new avionics hardware for the Block 60 is currently being installed in the systems-integration laboratory (SIL) at Ft. Worth. Flying test beds will be used to evaluate some features of the aircraft - including the radar, EW system, and the engine - before they fly on the Block 60.
The Block 60 has a heavyweight airframe with a maximum take-off weight of 51,000 lbs. and provision for a pair of conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) mounted over the wing-body junction. Holding some 3,000 pounds of fuel, the CFTs can be coupled with the standard 370-gallon (2,500-lb.) tanks or optional 600-gallon (4,000-lb.) tanks for very long-range missions, or used as a substitute for tanks if the operator wants to free pylons for weapons. For example, a F-16 with CFTs can carry four High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs). Tests of the CFTs were completed at the end of 2002, and the first production tanks flew in March.
Like Advanced Block 50/52 F-16s, the Block 60 two-seater has the enlarged dorsal spine originally developed for the Israeli two-seaters. The key benefit of the dorsal spine is that it provides space for an active jammer, which the two-seater cannot otherwise accommodate.
Unique to the Block 60 is the General Electric (GE) (Cincinnati, OH) F110-GE-132 engine, with its thrust of 32,500 lbs. The first flight-qualified engine was delivered to Lockheed Martin at the end of 2002 and was successfully flown in a F-16 Block 50 from Edwards AFB from April through June of this year. The engine is a combination of features and technologies from GE's entire family of fighter engines. The operational advantage of the new engine is not its maximum-power rating alone, but its higher military power: GE does not publish the number, but the rival F100-PW-232 engine from Pratt & Whitney (East Hartford, CT) is quoted at 21,600 pounds. In fact, the Block 60 has 90% as much thrust at military power as the original F-16A in full burner.
In terms of avionics, the Block 60 looks more like a F/A-22 Raptor or F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) than any other F-16. The radar, electro-optical suite, EW system, mission computer, and cockpit displays represent the largest elements of the development program. Northrop Grumman (Baltimore, MD) provides the Block 60 sensors. The AN/APG-80 Agile Beam Radar uses some of the same "back-end" processors as the APG-68(V)9 but has an active electronically scanned array (AESA), using an early edition of the technology that Northrop Grumman is developing for the JSF.
Like other AESA radars, the APG-80 exploits the ability to change beamform and direction instantly to "interleave" modes. For example, it can operate in terrain-following-radar (TFR) mode while continuing to search for airborne targets, and from the pilot's viewpoint, the two tasks are being performed concurrently. Other modes include variable-resolution, synthetic-aperture radar (VRSAR), which allows the pilot to trade higher resolution for greater area coverage, and to "zoom" the SAR to identify a suspected target.
The APG-80 radar is integrated with the internal forward-looking infrared targeting system (IFTS), sharing space, power, and cooling and using similar processors. The IFTS will be used against both air and ground targets and includes a laser designator. The IFTS has one sensor on the nose ahead of windscreen - a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) navigation sensor. In addition, a gimbaled targeting sensor (FLIR/laser designator) is located on the IFTS "podlet," which is mounted on the left inlet station.
Using the Sniper XR targeting pod (shown here, under the fuselage, to the left of the nosewheel), the F-16CJ will be able to perform destruction-of-enemy-air-defenses (DEAD) missions, as well as defense suppression. The HARM Targeting System will cue the Sniper pod onto the target, enabling a precision attack with a GPS-aided weapon. Lockheed Martin photo
Also from Northrop Grumman (Rolling Meadows, IL) is the Falcon Edge EW system, which stems from research, begun in 1993, into low-cost, high-performance EW gear based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology. Some Falcon Edge components use the same Motorola (Tempe, AZ) processor as the Power Mac G4 and some of its signal-processing hardware uses chips from Internet-capable cell phones.
The Falcon Edge provides radar warning, jamming, and emitter targeting. As in the case of the F/A-22 and JSF, the passive EW system helps to locate and identify airborne and surface targets and can locate a surface target in distance as well as bearing. BAE Systems (Nashua, NH), which did not win the integrating contract for the EW system but provides precision direction-finding (PDF) antennas to Northrop Grumman, has stated that the Block 60 system was designed to "exceed existing system capabilities several-fold," including long- and short-baseline interferometry antennas used for target location.
The Falcon Edge includes a Raytheon (Goleta, CA) fiber-optic towed decoy (FOTD). Initial flight tests, focusing on endurance and aerodynamic stability, were completed successfully in December. According to Raytheon, this was the first demonstration of an FOTD in high-risk flight regimes, including high-G deployment and high-G maneuvers representing extremes of the F-16 flight envelope. Terma (Lystrup, Denmark) supplies the Block 60's expendable countermeasures, with extra dispensers in the weapon pylons.
The Block 60 avionics are coordinated by an Advanced Mission Computer (AMC) and a fiber-optic network, using COTS technology, supplied by Lockheed Martin's Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems unit (Eagan, MN). The AMC was a late improvement to the Block 60, replacing the Ada-language-based MMC. Advantages include less reliance on unique components and the fact that it is much easier to hire programmers to work in C++ than in Ada.
The Block 60 cockpit has three 5x7-in. liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) and an LCD up-front control. The symbology on the displays is very similar to that used on the F/A-22. Like the F/A-22, the avionics system can automatically prioritize airborne targets on a "shoot list," along with creating a "bomb list" for surface targets and a "jam list" for emitters. The two-seater aircraft have a "missionized" back seat tailored for a weapons-systems officer. The cockpit has provisions for a helmet-mounted display, but the UAE has not announced its choice of a supplier.
Smiths Aerospace (Germantown, MD) is providing the fighter's data-storage and -transfer unit, which includes two important and related functions: terrain-referenced navigation and a ground-collision avoidance system. Each data cartridge will hold more than 30 GB of information and target imagery. Another new item of equipment is an intra-flight datalink capable of connecting up to eight aircraft; this is a customer-supplied system, compatible with the rest of the UAE force.
So far, the only customer other than the UAE to have been offered the Block 60 is Singapore, which is seeking an additional fighter squadron. There the Block 60 is competing with the Rafale, Typhoon, Sukhoi (Moscow, Russia) Su-30, F-15, and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet to equip a single squadron of aircraft.
Long Sunset
Lockheed Martin could be building quite a few more F-16s between now and the introduction of next-generation fighters like the JSF to service. At the Paris Air Show in June, the company's vice president for F-16s told reporters that he sees a market for at least 200 more aircraft and possibly as many as 400. Lockheed Martin photo
The USAF is not planning to buy any Advanced Block 50/52s, much less Block 60s. Instead, the USAF is continuing with the Common Configuration Implementation Program (CCIP) for the F-16.
The CCIP adds several new capabilities to the fleet. CCIP aircraft are compatible with a Link 16 Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) datalink and the new Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System. They incorporate the BAE Systems (Greenlawn, NY) APX-113 Advanced Identification Friend or Foe (AIFF) system, which provides the F-16 with a second, independent channel for target identification and allows it to engage targets beyond visual range without authorization from another source. Under the CCIP, all USAF Block 40/50s will be able to carry the Lockheed Martin (Orlando, FL) Sniper XR targeting pod. (Currently, USAF Block 50/52 aircraft do not carry a pod, and the Block 40/42 aircraft use the older LANTIRN pod.)
The CCIP contract was signed in June 1998, and the first squadron aircraft was delivered in late January 2002 to the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw AFB, SC. The first step involves fitting 107 older Block 50/52 aircraft with the MMC and improved color multifunction displays and processors already fielded on the European MLU F-16.
In September 2002, the first real capability improvements arrived as Block 50/52 aircraft received AIFF and a pylon modification that allows them to carry the Sniper XR targeting pod. By April 2003, 38 aircraft had gone through the Phase I modification (MMC and color displays), and 38 had received the IFF and pylon modifications.
From March 2003 to June 2005, the rest of the USAF Block 50/52 fleet goes through the CCIP at the Ogden Air Logistics Center (Hill AFB, UT), and the final elements of the system will be installed. The complete CCIP will include provision for the JHMCS, permitting pilots to make full use of the Raytheon (Tucson, AZ) AIM-9X missile. Finally, the older Block 40/42 aircraft will receive the entire CCIP package in one visit to Ogden, starting in 2005, under Phase III of the CCIP, for which the USAF awarded Lockheed Martin a $26.6- million contract on March 31. The contract also contains follow-on options for the company to provide CCIP kits for nearly 400 Block 40/42 in the service's fleet, which could bring the total contract value to $396 million.
The Sniper XR signifies a change in tactics for the USAF's F-16C Block 50/52 fighters. Known as F-16CJs, these aircraft are currently equipped to carry the Raytheon (Tucson, AZ) HARM Targeting System (HTS) pod on the right-hand inlet hardpoint. This allows them to launch HARM missiles in range-known mode, but hostile radar operators have been able to avoid HARM hits by turning off their emitters when attacked. Under the CCIP, the HTS will eventually be moved to the left inlet station and Sniper XR provisions will be installed on the right hardpoint. With the Sniper, the F-16 Block 50/52 will be able to perform destruction-of-enemy-air-defenses (DEAD) missions, as well as defense suppression. The HTS will cue the Sniper pod onto the target, permitting a precision attack with a GPS-aided weapon.
The USAF selected the Sniper XR targeting pod for the F-16 in August 2001, with an initial 522-pod, $843-million order (see "USAF Selects Advanced Targeting Pod,"JED , September 2001). This order covers the F-16 Block 50/52 and the Air National Guard's Block 30s, but the USAF also plans to use Sniper XR to replace the older, heavier Lockheed Martin (Orlando, FL) LANTIRN pods on the F-16 Block 40/42 and F-15E. The first pods were delivered in March 2003. A squadron of Air National Guard Block 52s flying CCIP Phase IA aircraft in Operation Iraqi Freedom effectively employed laser-guided bombs using FLIR targeting pods.
Using the same technology as the Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) for the JSF, the Sniper XR is based on a high-resolution mid-wave FLIR sensor, together with a dual-mode laser, a CCD video sensor, and a laser spot tracker. Lockheed Martin claims that new image-processing software, stabilization technology, and a state-of-the-art FLIR and laser provide three-times-greater performance than the best of today's systems. Export customers can opt for the Litening pod, co- produced by Northrop Grumman (Rolling Meadows, IL) and Rafael, or the Pantera, the export model of the Sniper XR.
After 2008, Ft. Worth is due to be fully occupied with JSF production. The Lockheed Martin corporate plan probably envisages the F-16 fading into the sunset around that time. Don't bet the rent on it, though. Ten years ago, nobody would have predicted that six F-16s a month would still be rolling off the Ft. Worth line in 2005.
....except for slight correction on the last part
ALL F-16s with the large dorsal spine are Ds.[/b]
I mean what's the phycial difference between a two-seater B and a two-seater D?
