F-16 Fighting Falcon News

November 26, 2012 (by Philippe Duculot) - On Monday Oct 22nd, like several times a month, the S.A.B.C.A. flight line crew successfully delivered an F-16 aircraft to one of its customer Air Forces. This time the Belgian Air Component received back a single-seater F-16, freshly upgraded by the highly skilled technicians of the company to the latest M5 Avionics standards.
"Business as usual" for these people who already proceeded with 29 similar deliveries since the beginning of the year... with the noticeable difference that this aircraft was exactly the 1,200th F-16 to roll out S.A.B.C.A.'s flight Line since 26 January 1979, when the very first production F-16 was delivered to the Belgian Air Force.

S.A.B.C.A. started its common history with the F-16 more than 30 years ago, by the assembly and in-flight delivery of 222 new F-16s, on behalf of three different end-users.

Since then, S.A.B.C.A. Charleroi became a global key-player for the Depot-level maintenance and upgrade of F-16 aircraft, serving nine different F-16 customers around the world.

Beside the continuous support to Belgium's and other European’s F-16 fleets, S.A.B.C.A. ensures the Depot-Level MRO of the USAF F-16 operated in the European theater. The choice made last year by the US Government to extend for another 5 years its co-operation with SABCA demonstrates S.A.B.C.A.'s abilities to provide accurate, on-time, competitive answers to the most demanding requirements

S.A.B.C.A.'s undisputed leadership in F-16 Depot-Level Support in Europe is strengthened by a State-of-the Art F-16 wings repair shop, relying on in-house detailed wing parts manufacturing capability.

S.A.B.C.A. is a Belgian, Brussels-headquartered aerospace engineering and manufacturing company founded in 1920. Since the 1960’s S.A.B.C.A. has participated in large-scale licensed production programs of combat aircraft and military helicopters for both USAF and European Air Forces. Beside the manufacturing of Air- and Spacecraft subassemblies performed in its Brussels plant, S.A.B.C.A. is prime or sub-contractor for several structural modification and operational capabilities upgrade programs on F-16, A-10, Alpha Jet, Mirage and other aircraft types.