The F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine, supersonic, multirole fourth-generation fighter aircraft developed by General Dynamics, whose military aircraft business was later absorbed into Lockheed Martin, and it entered operational United States Air Force service on October 1, 1980. The design pioneered a frameless bubble canopy for improved pilot visibility, a side-stick flight controller, and the first operational use of a relaxed static stability, fly-by-wire flight control system, features that combined to give the aircraft exceptional agility for its era. More than 4,600 F-16s have been built since production began in 1976, making it the most common fixed-wing aircraft in military service worldwide and the mainstay fighter of dozens of allied air forces alongside the United States. Its combination of affordability, versatility across air-to-air and air-to-ground roles, and sustained upgrade programs has kept it in front-line service for more than four decades.
Facts
Weapon ClassMultirole fighter aircraft 1 Introduced Year Classification
Service Status Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category) Connections
Associated With
Gulf War, Wars The F-16 Fighting Falcon flew thousands of strike and air superiority sorties during the Gulf War
Used In
Gulf War, Wars Source Wikipedia: F-16 Fighting Falcon
Source Wikipedia: F-16 Fighting Falcon
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: F-16 Fighting Falcon
WikipediaLead section, opening sentence
The General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fourth-generation fighter aircraft developed by General Dynamics and produced by multiple companies, including General Dynamics until 1993 and Lockheed Martin until 2017.
Lead section, paragraph 4, introduction-year sentence
Since its introduction in 1978, the F-16 became a mainstay of the U.S. Air Force's tactical airpower, where it mainly replaced the F-105 Thunderchief, A-7 Corsair II, and F-4 Phantom II.
service status
Numerous countries have begun replacing the aircraft with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and Lockheed Martin F-16V Viper, although the original versions of F-16 also remain in service with many operators
- Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
Used In: Gulf War, Wikipedia article text
F-16s from various US-led coalitions flew combat missions in the Gulf War, Bosnia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq and Syria.
Used In: Yugoslav Wars, Wikipedia article text
Air Force, including the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard, flew the F-16 in combat during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and in the Balkans during the Yugoslav Wars later in the 1990s.
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