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Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon

The USAF needed a light Mach-2-fighter as a supplement to the heavy fighter F-15 Eagle. Many firms had projects. Two projects were chosen. The first was the F-16 from General Dynamics (today: Lockheed Martin) and the second was the F-17 from Northrop. From both airplanes one prototype should be build and of of these prototypes should be chosen. In 1975 the USAF declared that the F-16 has won the competition. In some things the F-16 was better than the USAF required. The F-16 was tested successful in the Edwards Air Force Base in California. Some NATO countries choose the F-16 as their standard fighter. The US Navy left the competition, but later the US Navy chose the F-17 Cobra, which was not much worse than the F-16, and they made from the F-17 the F-18 Hornet. The F-18 Hornet, which had his first flight in 1988, is one of the most important airplanes of the US Navy, like the F-14 Tomcat. The F-14 and the F-18 are able to start and land on aircraft carriers. During the operation "Desert Storm" in the 2^nd gulf war (1990-1991) the F-16 shot Iraqi positions. Until today the F-16 is a very important fighter of the USAF, but it is not able to start from aircarft carriers.

Technical data about the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon
Crew	1 man
Length	15.03 m
Span	10.0 m
Height	5.09 m
Engines	one Pratt & Whitney F100-P-200 with 10,814 kp trust
Weapons	one M61 "Vulcan" cannon (caliber: 20 mm) 9,275 kg other weapons
Maximum speed	2,400 km/h (2.2 Mach)
Maximum takeoff weight	16,100 kg
Range	2,027 km

Author and Webmaster: Lukas Czarnecki

If you have got questions about the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon you can send me an e-mail under the following adress:
webmaster@hpwt.de

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Last Update: 15.12.2004