F-16 Viper

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Vivek Lall exits shows, Lockheed Martin not sure of F-21 deal with India Published May 5, 2020 | By admin SOURCE: ANITA DESAI / FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG Vivek Lall, a prominent Indian American aerospace and defense expert, who played key roles in some of the major defense deals between India and the U.S., has resigned from Lockheed Martin “to spend more time with family,”. Lall has been under pressure for failing to secure more deals for the company and growing prospects of India ignoring procurement of F-21 (F-16V) for the Indian air force deal for 114 jets. Lall had secured a deal for 24 MH-60 Romeo helicopters from Indian Navy for Lockheed Martin recently and was also actively following up with prospects of Indian Air force ordering additional C-130J Tactical Transporters but the pressure was on to secure biggest fighter jet deal of recent times with India and results weren’t convincing enough with IAF Top Tier still desiring for the French Dassault Rafale fighter jet which already has been ordered in small batch as emergency purchase. F-21 on offer is just a rebadged F-16V and not many are impressed by the what Lockheed Martin has to offer to India as in previous MMRCA tender, India had rejected F-16IN (Block 70) due in technical round and it was an only front runner when tried to procure fighter jets under SEF (Single Engine Fighter ) where the race was limited only with Saab’s Gripen after India scrapped that too and allowed more fighter jets to compete which saw the entry of Sukhoi-35 and F-15. IAF is yet to issue Request for Proposal (RFP) and there have been murmurs that entry of F-15EX by rival Boeing might complicate the situation for the F-21 on the offer and Lockheed is now considering offering its F-35A to India with limited technology transfer and local assembly rights for the aircraft as India tries to limit the purchase of defense equipment from foreign countries amid slowing of the economic activities due to COVID-19 situation in the county.
 

Defcon 1

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No actually it's called the viper by US Military, official name was just falcon and block 70 is officially known as Viper only.
Viper is still the unofficial name. Falcon is still the official name for every block of F16. However LM wanted to cash in on the unofficial viper name of F16 and designated their block 70 version as F16V
 

MiG-29SMT

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1590638413449.png

in 1992 a Venezuelan F-16 downed another Venezuelan OV-10 Bronco from the opposition forces to the goverment during the coup d etat attempt

 

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U.S. Air Force seriously discusses F-16 order

NEWSAVIATION
ByDylan Malyasov
Jan 21, 2021
Photo by Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee

Aviation Week was the first to report that the U.S. Air Force is considering changing the programs of the modern fighter procurement program.

New Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon orders are being seriously discussed two decades after signing the last production contract, according to AviationWeek.

The F-16, currently in its fourth generation, is one of the world’s most advanced aircraft. It is single-engine supersonic multirole fighter originally developed by General Dynamics and now built Lockheed for some export consumers.

As noted by the Air Force, in an air combat role, the F-16’s maneuverability and combat radius (distance it can fly to enter air combat, stay, fight and return) exceed that of all potential threat fighter aircraft. It can locate targets in all weather conditions and detect low flying aircraft in radar ground clutter. In an air-to-surface role, the F-16 can fly more than 500 miles (860 kilometers), deliver its weapons with superior accuracy, defend itself against enemy aircraft, and return to its starting point.

At the same time, Lockheed Martin moved production of the F-16 production line from Fort Worth, Texas, to Greenville, South Carolina, in 2019 to accommodate production of Block 70 aircraft for export consumers.

Since Bahrain’s order in 2018, Lockheed has garnered contracts for eight F-16s for Bulgaria, 14 aircraft for Slovakia, and is working with the U.S. government on a sale of 66 jets for Taiwan.

USAF officials are impressed by the new features in updated F-16 Block 70/72 terming them ideal for missions where stealth is not necessary.
 

Wisemarko

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India should double down on F-21. IMO

F-16s Could Still be Flying Into the 2070s
May 23, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Based on Lockheed Martin’s backlog of F-16 orders, planned upgrades, and the recent revelation that the Air Force plans to depend on the fighter into the late 2030s, the F-16’s sunset years now could come in the 2070s, or later.

Lockheed Martin’s backlog of 128 F-16s—all for foreign military sales—won’t all be delivered until 2026, and the company anticipates more orders may be coming. With a potential service life of 40 years or more, those jets could be flying into the late 2060s or later. The type first entered service in the 1970s.

“There are 25 nations operating F-16s today,” said Col. Brian Pearson, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center lead for F-16 FMS, in a May 17 press release. Lockheed’s Greenville, S.C., F-16 manufacturing and upgrade facility, which will start turning out new F-16s in 2022, “helps us meet the global demand” for F-16 aircraft, he said. Lockheed moved its F-16 work from Fort Worth, Texas, in 2019 to make room there for expanded F-35 production.

Since the new line opened, AFLCMC’s security assistance and cooperation directorate “has seen an uptick of our partner nations requesting detailed information and requests for U.S. government sales,” said Col. Anthony Walker, senior materiel leader in the international division.

The 128 jets are for Bahrain, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Taiwan, and another country the company declined to name, although Croatia and the Philippines have been mentioned as customers. These aircraft will be in the Block 70/72 configuration, which includes new radar, displays, conformal fuel tanks, and other improvements over the Block 50/52 version, the most recent flown by USAF. Lockheed is building F-16s at a rate of about four per month at Greenville.

India is also considering buying an advanced F-16 version Lockheed has dubbed the “F-21,” which Lockheed touts as having a 12,000-hour service life; roughly 50 percent more than the ones USAF flies. At normal utilization, 12,000 hours is about 32 years of service. India would produce those jets indigenously. India is looking to buy 114 fighters, and Lockheed is partnered with Tata to build the jets if it wins the competition.

Gregory M. Ulmer, Lockheed’s vice president for aeronautics, told reporters in February the company sees a potential for 300 additional F-16 sales not yet on the books, some of which will be to “repeat” customers.

The increased foreign interest may be related to USAF’s hints over the last two years that it will continue to fly the F-16 beyond previous plans, thus reassuring customers that the parts and support pipeline for a large number of aircraft will persist.

Those hints turned more concrete in recent days. Talking points drawn up for USAF Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. about the service’s future fighter force mix plans, obtained by Air Force Magazine, indicate the Air Force expects that “600+ late-block F-16s will provide affordable capacity for the next 15+ years,” in both competitive and permissive combat environments. These aircraft will in fact be USAF’s “capacity force,” the documents say, and will serve as a “rheostat,” meaning their total number can be adjusted up or down depending on the success of the F-35 program and a separate F-16 replacement now known as the Multi-Role-X.

The Air Force considers “competitive” to mean airspace that is reasonably well defended by aircraft and surface-to-air systems. “Highly competitive” and “denied” airspace would only be penetrable by fifth-gen and sixth-gen aircraft with extremely low observable qualities.

Although the fiscal year 2022 budget request, to be released May 28, will reveal some details of the Air Force’s new force structure plans, Brown said at the recent McAleese and Associates defense conference that the meat of the plan will be spelled out in the fiscal ’23 budget.

In the near-term, USAF plans the divestiture of all the F-16 “pre-blocks” of aircraft, meaning all those that remain in its inventory of the Block 15-25-30 versions.

Lockheed received an indefinite-delivery, indefinite quantity contract in January worth up to $64.3 billion for production of new F-16s for FMS customers, as well as upgrades of 405 jets in foreign hands to the F-16V configuration, which is similar to the F-21 model proposed to India. These modifications will include “new radar and other upgrades to make them similar to the aircraft that will come off the production line,” AFLCMC’s release said.

The large omnibus contract creates a baseline F-16 configuration for all future production, with the Air Force acting as the agent for FMS customers. Each country will sign a separate contract for unique or custom equipment they want on their particular jets. An Air Force official said the arrangement “simplifies and accelerates” the FMS process for countries wanting to buy the F-16, “so we can get it into their hands faster than has been the case in recent years.” The approach is needed because of the increased expected demand for the airplane, he said. It also reduces the cost of the jet by allowing vendors to make larger, more economic quantities of parts and structural components. The work will also integrate the Joint Mission Planning System/Mission Planning Environment software update.

The contract specifically mentioned work for Bahrain, Bulgaria, Chile, Columbia, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, Korea, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

Japan flies an F-16 variant, called the F-2, but it performs all work on that type.

More than 4,550 F-16s have been delivered to the U.S. and allied countries since the 1970s. The late Michele A. Evans, Ulmer’s predecessor as Lockheed VP for aeronautics, said in September 2020, the company sees a possibility “of getting up to 5,000” F-16s built. She also said the company views the F-16 as an entrée to its F-35, for countries that are not yet ready to adopt the fifth-generation fighter, but may wish to later.

Brig. Gen. Dale R. White, USAF’s program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft, called the F-16 an “enduring, highly capable compact fighter that will have a large role in many partner nations’ security for years to come.”
 

Tang

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India should double down on F-21. IMO

F-16s Could Still be Flying Into the 2070s
May 23, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Based on Lockheed Martin’s backlog of F-16 orders, planned upgrades, and the recent revelation that the Air Force plans to depend on the fighter into the late 2030s, the F-16’s sunset years now could come in the 2070s, or later.

Lockheed Martin’s backlog of 128 F-16s—all for foreign military sales—won’t all be delivered until 2026, and the company anticipates more orders may be coming. With a potential service life of 40 years or more, those jets could be flying into the late 2060s or later. The type first entered service in the 1970s.

“There are 25 nations operating F-16s today,” said Col. Brian Pearson, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center lead for F-16 FMS, in a May 17 press release. Lockheed’s Greenville, S.C., F-16 manufacturing and upgrade facility, which will start turning out new F-16s in 2022, “helps us meet the global demand” for F-16 aircraft, he said. Lockheed moved its F-16 work from Fort Worth, Texas, in 2019 to make room there for expanded F-35 production.

Since the new line opened, AFLCMC’s security assistance and cooperation directorate “has seen an uptick of our partner nations requesting detailed information and requests for U.S. government sales,” said Col. Anthony Walker, senior materiel leader in the international division.

The 128 jets are for Bahrain, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Taiwan, and another country the company declined to name, although Croatia and the Philippines have been mentioned as customers. These aircraft will be in the Block 70/72 configuration, which includes new radar, displays, conformal fuel tanks, and other improvements over the Block 50/52 version, the most recent flown by USAF. Lockheed is building F-16s at a rate of about four per month at Greenville.

India is also considering buying an advanced F-16 version Lockheed has dubbed the “F-21,” which Lockheed touts as having a 12,000-hour service life; roughly 50 percent more than the ones USAF flies. At normal utilization, 12,000 hours is about 32 years of service. India would produce those jets indigenously. India is looking to buy 114 fighters, and Lockheed is partnered with Tata to build the jets if it wins the competition.

Gregory M. Ulmer, Lockheed’s vice president for aeronautics, told reporters in February the company sees a potential for 300 additional F-16 sales not yet on the books, some of which will be to “repeat” customers.

The increased foreign interest may be related to USAF’s hints over the last two years that it will continue to fly the F-16 beyond previous plans, thus reassuring customers that the parts and support pipeline for a large number of aircraft will persist.

Those hints turned more concrete in recent days. Talking points drawn up for USAF Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. about the service’s future fighter force mix plans, obtained by Air Force Magazine, indicate the Air Force expects that “600+ late-block F-16s will provide affordable capacity for the next 15+ years,” in both competitive and permissive combat environments. These aircraft will in fact be USAF’s “capacity force,” the documents say, and will serve as a “rheostat,” meaning their total number can be adjusted up or down depending on the success of the F-35 program and a separate F-16 replacement now known as the Multi-Role-X.

The Air Force considers “competitive” to mean airspace that is reasonably well defended by aircraft and surface-to-air systems. “Highly competitive” and “denied” airspace would only be penetrable by fifth-gen and sixth-gen aircraft with extremely low observable qualities.

Although the fiscal year 2022 budget request, to be released May 28, will reveal some details of the Air Force’s new force structure plans, Brown said at the recent McAleese and Associates defense conference that the meat of the plan will be spelled out in the fiscal ’23 budget.

In the near-term, USAF plans the divestiture of all the F-16 “pre-blocks” of aircraft, meaning all those that remain in its inventory of the Block 15-25-30 versions.

Lockheed received an indefinite-delivery, indefinite quantity contract in January worth up to $64.3 billion for production of new F-16s for FMS customers, as well as upgrades of 405 jets in foreign hands to the F-16V configuration, which is similar to the F-21 model proposed to India. These modifications will include “new radar and other upgrades to make them similar to the aircraft that will come off the production line,” AFLCMC’s release said.

The large omnibus contract creates a baseline F-16 configuration for all future production, with the Air Force acting as the agent for FMS customers. Each country will sign a separate contract for unique or custom equipment they want on their particular jets. An Air Force official said the arrangement “simplifies and accelerates” the FMS process for countries wanting to buy the F-16, “so we can get it into their hands faster than has been the case in recent years.” The approach is needed because of the increased expected demand for the airplane, he said. It also reduces the cost of the jet by allowing vendors to make larger, more economic quantities of parts and structural components. The work will also integrate the Joint Mission Planning System/Mission Planning Environment software update.

The contract specifically mentioned work for Bahrain, Bulgaria, Chile, Columbia, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, Korea, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

Japan flies an F-16 variant, called the F-2, but it performs all work on that type.

More than 4,550 F-16s have been delivered to the U.S. and allied countries since the 1970s. The late Michele A. Evans, Ulmer’s predecessor as Lockheed VP for aeronautics, said in September 2020, the company sees a possibility “of getting up to 5,000” F-16s built. She also said the company views the F-16 as an entrée to its F-35, for countries that are not yet ready to adopt the fifth-generation fighter, but may wish to later.

Brig. Gen. Dale R. White, USAF’s program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft, called the F-16 an “enduring, highly capable compact fighter that will have a large role in many partner nations’ security for years to come.”
India is definitely not buying F16, we have MWF in that space, further F16 is not better than Rafale in any way.
But for supply chain, we are happy to be part of it.
 

Wisemarko

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India is definitely not buying F16, we have MWF in that space, further F16 is not better than Rafale in any way.
But for supply chain, we are happy to be part of it.
F-16 may or may not be better than Rafale (fanboy paper fantasies is not I want to indulge in) but F-16 is better than every other fighter aircraft in Indian Air Force.

Also F-16 is cheaper to buy and operate than Rafale. F-16 can be made much faster rate as well. With USAF thinking about buying more F-16, its technology will remain top of the line unlike abandoned Mirage-2000 lineup.

Unlike Rafale, India does not have to pay big dollars for integration of non-French weapons because all US aircraft come equipped to use all NATO weapons and sensors. Since India is using many Israeli items, this is a very important advantage.

F-16 is currently built at a rate of 4 per month. Rafale is at 3. The new F-16 facility can go up to 12 a month if needed. Not surprising because in 1990s Lockheed used to build 30 F-16 a month.

F-16 assembly in India will create the best bang for the Indian economy and that does not have to come at cost of Rafale purchase.
 

Wisemarko

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$14 Billion Contract Marks Start of New Push to Build US F-16 Fighters for Partner Nations.


The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $14 billion contract to Lockheed Martin to build new F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets for five countries through 2026.

The service on Monday announced a contract for the production of 128 Block 70/72 jets, the latest and most advanced version of the venerable fourth-generation fighter, on behalf of Bahrain, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Taiwan and Morocco.
 

Tang

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F-16 may or may not be better than Rafale (fanboy paper fantasies is not I want to indulge in) but F-16 is better than every other fighter aircraft in Indian Air Force.
Definitely not, recent red flag & Cope India proves it.
If you can upgrade your F16s to block70,
We too can upgrade ours.

Also F-16 is cheaper to buy and operate than Rafale. F-16 can be made much faster rate as well. With USAF thinking about buying more F-16, its technology will remain top of the line unlike abandoned Mirage-2000 lineup.
Unlike Rafale, India does not have to pay big dollars for integration of non-French weapons because all US aircraft come equipped to use all NATO weapons and sensors. Since India is using many Israeli items, this is a very important advantage.
F-16 is currently built at a rate of 4 per month. Rafale is at 3. The new F-16 facility can go up to 12 a month if needed. Not surprising because in 1990s Lockheed used to build 30 F-16 a month.
F16 does not give us any edge wrt China.
For integration, I beg your pardon, we would have to spend huge money to even integrate our ASTRA on it.
Build rate is not an issue at all.
Heck, it even failed in Leh trials.

F-16 assembly in India will create the best bang for the Indian economy and that does not have to come at cost of Rafale purchase.
Yes it will,no doubt about it, but your fighter is not up to the mark.
 

Wisemarko

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Definitely not, recent red flag & Cope India proves it.
If you can upgrade your F16s to block70,
We too can upgrade ours.



F16 does not give us any edge wrt China.
For integration, I beg your pardon, we would have to spend huge money to even integrate our ASTRA on it.
Build rate is not an issue at all.
Heck, it even failed in Leh trials.


Yes it will,no doubt about it, but your fighter is not up to the mark.
I will not take you bait on fanboy discussion including false assertions on how Red Flag works and relative performance.

F-16V still outsells Rafale 2:1 and has ability to be produced at much faster rate.

If you claim that the build rate is not an issue for India then you better run it by IAF because there’s nothing more urgent than getting to 42 squadrons (and getting rid of Mig-21) for IAF.
 

Tang

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I will not take you bait on fanboy discussion including false assertions on how Red Flag works and relative performance.

F-16V still outsells Rafale 2:1 and has ability to be produced at much faster rate.

If you claim that the build rate is not an issue for India then you better run it by IAF because there’s nothing more urgent than getting to 42 squadrons (and getting rid of Mig-21) for IAF.
Problem is that, you are thinking about selling your f16 and I am thinking about defending my borders, what will those f16v do against j20s?

IAF is no fool, f16 could not even do a cold start in Leh airport, how will they perform there with respectable load.
F16 could not even clear the technical trials.

We have better fighter than f16 in our inventory, far better.
Plus Rafale give us a better bang for buck wrt china.

Best Regards
 

Wisemarko

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Problem is that, you are thinking about selling your f16 and I am thinking about defending my borders, what will those f16v do against j20s?

IAF is no fool, f16 could not even do a cold start in Leh airport, how will they perform there with respectable load.
F16 could not even clear the technical trials.

We have better fighter than f16 in our inventory, far better.
Plus Rafale give us a better bang for buck wrt china.

Best Regards
Problem is that your feelings are in right place but you are talking without enough information here.

On paper, no 4th Gen fighter can take on a fifth Gen fighter. Be it Rafale or F-18 or F-16 against F-35/J-20. So do not get carried away with marketing materials of Dassault.

F-16 flies from Alaska to Scandinavia. I don’t know what cold trials were done and with what motive but working in extreme cold weather is not a problem with any F series.

War is not fought between champions, it is fought between armies (old proverb).
 

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