Forum: F-16 Armament & Stores

Hello Everybody,

I need to get some professional opinions in matter of possible deployment of ANY (tactical?) nuclear weapon on ANY version of F-16.

While i suppose it's carrying capacity allows to do it, i am not sure whether it was planned for F-16 or not. Was plane suitable for such action ? Were there any rules (field manuals) refering to performing nuclear strike by Falcon ? Finally, was the plane prepared for secure handling of nuclear weapons?

Of course, my interest focuses on time till late '80s. Any help and explaination will be appreciated Smile

Best Regards,
Peter

F-16.net Sponsor

This message from our sponsor will disappear if you log on as a member.

Salute!

Sheeesh! here we go again.

Honestly, the FBI and Homeland Security folks are getting tired of these posts.

1) Yes, it is true. The Viper can carry nukes. it can carry more than one. It can deliver them with unerring accuracy anyplace in the world.

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID.

2) U.S. nukes are very carefully constructed, very secure and very powerful for their size.

I used to plan on a ripple release, as I wanted to ensure a big crater and didn't really care about collateral damage. heh heh.

YGBSM with these requests. I think we have a persistent dude that changes callsign and keeps on asking, huh?

out,

I love the way it's always the first post....no Hi how are you, just tell me about your nukes..

Warsaw Pact Central Heating "We Deliver"

Purplehaze

Above all, I'd like to say that it is my first appearance on this forum ever - I was just looking for a quick and reliable reference for further discussion (check <a href="http://groups-beta.google.com/">Google Groups</a> > <a href="http://groups-beta.google.com/group/pl.misc.militaria">pl.misc.militaria</a> > <a href="http://groups-beta.google.com/group/pl.misc.militaria/browse_thread/thread/37dd891d2146d827/20133bcb484f38b5?q=F-16+dla+Indii&rnum=1#20133bcb484f38b5">F-16 dla Indii</a> ).

I do aplogise, if my question somehow resembles that of any local forum troll. That's for public part.

For you..., I'am also afraid that I am somewhat beyond competence of DoHS, but I don't think I should be afraid of Falcons as my country placed order for 48 of these not so long ago Smile

For your information : all nukes (except possibly those made by arabic states) are carefully constructed - otherwise, they will not work ! In the matter of safety of US nuclear stockpile, you might wish to confront this www.globalsecurity.org and check some funny table about difference in possible and present security features in american strategic warheads "Why should America resume nuclear testing" or sth. like that in tile.

Best Regards,
Peter

Gums wrote:

Sheeesh! here we go again.

Come one Gums, admit it. You just <b>love</b> it when someone asks this kind of question! Your eyes must have been gleaming...

Antey wrote:

Above all, i'd like to say that it is my first appearance on this forum ever - i just need quick and reliable reference for further discussion

Hi Peter, welcome to the forum! Don't let those 'senior members' scare you. It's just some standard good-natured ribbing to all newbies who come in and ask about nuclear weapons. Smile

I would personally be honored if Gums spoke to me, but then again, I'm just a janitor. Wink

Don't expect to much out of it, but here are two related topics:

<a href="f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-2326.html">Nuclear switch</a>
<a href="f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-1932.html">Nuclear weapons on the F-16</a>

Hi,

At last some warm welcome Smile

Good-natured ribbing, heh ? Wink

Well - it's far beyond behaviour described in "Aviation Humor".

Honestly speaking, I happen to know a bit about nuclear weapons (theory, of course ) and in general, nuclear technology (not only military) used to be one of my hobbies. Strange? Considering my date of birth (6th August).. Smile

But at this moment I was interested only in one general fact, not confidental/secret details. Someone on other forum expressed strange statement : that ALL US aircraft since '50s were designed with nuclear capability in mind - the statement that I seriously DOUBT. I also read, that such information (warheads' designations) is not classified.

I understand the need for security precautions. An excellent example of 'veil of secrecy' is that Polish & Russian MiG-29 pilots NEVER talk on public forums about their aircrafts' capabilities - despite the fact, that most of documentation can be found on russian web sites, or even P2P networks, and MiGs went good evaluation on the West.

I respect it. But what I needed was just a simple, binary answer YES/NO and maybe some reference to publicly available information which I somehow missed. Nontheless, I'll look somewhere else... but of course I'll stay tuned to the forum, as Peace Sky (I) makes it's progress Smile

And the discussion I mentioned, covered topic of possible deliveries of Falcons to Pakistan and India, and as such - capabilities and armament of those aircraft.

Best Regards,
Peter

Sorry, but I couldn't stop laughing LMAO

! First, I see nukes. Then I look for Gums - and he doesn't disappoint Wink

. Then I look for one of the moderators - and sure enough, I'm right again Laughing

! I just have to laugh at the way these discussions always seem to follow the same pattern every time Very Happy

.

Antey, I'm just a civilian, but I can tell you that yes, it can carry them. I don't know exactly which ones, mind you, but I know it's ready to go when you need a new glass paved, self lighted parking lot in a hurry Thumb

! Oh yeah, welcome to the forum - we can always use more Viperholics around here Smile

!

Quote:

Warsaw Pact Central Heating "We Deliver"

Purplehaze, that has to be one of the funniest ones I've heard Laughing

! Thanks for a new one and a good laugh!

Elite Joined: Nov 07, 2003 Posts: 902

Hi Antey, I remember I have had a discussion about these humors with the moderators. I was assured they are not of abusive nature. It amuses me, how it never failed to entertain some individuals.

I'm glad you agree the subject is not to be discussed openly. This reference made in the other thread has some good information. I hope it deems declassified. Else someone should really report the article to the appropriate agency (if a forbidden torch is shining in a dark room, full of eyes, someone should really alert the appropriate user to shut it off. Asking the room occupants, not to look in that direction and not to discuss about it, ain't the best solution). I have too mentioned this photo to the board. It has not been removed since. Hence I believe it deems declassifed too.

Peace Sky is indeed much anticipated. Hope to see you around to discuss more about the new Viper operator.

cheers,

Last edited by Antey on Apr 05, 2005 - 10:49 PM; edited 1 time in total

Hi Pumpkin,

No offence - but aren't you guys somwhat paranoic here ?
Of course, I am not asking about classified matters, but for
some information which can be found in good Falcon's monography which I DON'T HAVE @ HAND but which i NEEDed. That's all. If there's no public & reliable info - that's pity, i lost a bet. Not a big deal.

Considering classified information... one interesting example is russian sea-skimming missile - 3M45 Granit / SS-N-19 Shipwreck. A photos and missile itself was officialy disclosed around... 2002 i think, while it has been in development since 1970s and in service since 1982 or 1984. Nothing strange - as I read it's decription in one of polish military journals, the cruise missle had better avionics than MiG-29, or at least comparable (!)

The discussion about Peace Sky could be nice Smile

- however, I am not involved in project in any way, so I have only generaly aviable information.

Just few not always Viper-related Smile

facts :

bases for ELTs equipped with Vipers (Eskadra Lotnictwa Taktycznego - Air Tactical Squadron(?) ) shall be protected be accompanied by new polish N-12M radars (reported after "Zolnierz Polski"; who's gonna guard who?) and possibly protected by Loara SPAAGs.
looks like Poland is going to be only foregin user of JSOW-C
there's one big problem - detorated and outdated training jets (TS-11 Iskra, once good trainers) are not sutiable for prepearing Vipers' drivers and only 16 pilots are going to train in USA according to signed conctract. And we need 3 pilots on every 2 planes, which gives us need to train 72 of them.

Best Regards,
Peter

Elite Joined: Nov 07, 2003 Posts: 902

Antey, guideline to classification of information can be implicit at times. For those in the grey area, individuals might choose to take a more conservative front. In any case, like many has mentioned, what you can find on the net does not necessarily mean it is declassified. Paranoid as we can be, if you ask me, all present military related information should really be off the net or open for public access in any form.

cheers,

All right, enough of this "Echelon Jam Day" - it seems i won't get Geen Card anyway Smile

So thanks again for all answers and forgive me please this text about paranoia.
But taking matters more generally - I think that REAL secrecy means for me that there's no reason to ask.
All other kinds are usually achieved by subtle misinformation. During my apprenticeship
( totaly unrelated with aircraft, weapons etc ) i found out how blurry the difference between public and secret can be. Sometimes seperate facts are generally known - only their combination makes a secret.

BTW : Is JASSM cleared for export with F-16s ?

Best Regards,
Peter

Elite Joined: Jan 14, 2004 Posts: 2444 Status: Offline

parrothead wrote:

First, I see nukes. Then I look for Gums - and he doesn't disappoint Wink

. Then I look for one of the moderators - and sure enough, I'm right again Laughing

!

ROFLMAO! Right you are Parrothead! I saw the nuke topic on the small menu list, and thought Oh $hit! We need Gums here, muy pronto!

Honestly, with all of the ICBMs and cruise missiles, on top of the planes that had nuke capability, I'd venture to say that the Viper was (and is) low on the nuclear totem pole. Think about it, for a moment if we may. In the latter stages of the Cold War we had:

MX (Peacekeeper)
Trident
Minuteman II
Pershing (was cancelled)
B-52
B-1 (actually sat nuke alert while the BUFFs were in Desert Storm)
FB-111A
ALCM
Tomahawk (warheads were later replaced with conventional ordinance)
GLCM (was later cancelled)

That is definitely enough nukes. A fast mover with a nuke on the centerline might not have even been necessary, depending on how the initial strikes went. Thankfully, we never had to figure that out.

Gums said it already though, YES the Viper can carry them.

Dunno about the JASSM for export though. I'm sure if the Israelis need it, they will be able to buy it.

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

Thanks for the recognition TC Very Happy

!

To add to your list, we also had nuclear torpedos, depth charges, land mines and ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADES Shocked

!

Antey, the guys here just prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to topics that might be sensitive. Many of them believe that stuff out on the internet is fine to be there, but we don't necessarily have to point it out. If you want info, just try Google. I got interested in nukes one night and was able to find out which weapons were used on what platform at what time and about how they worked Wink

. Lots of good stuff on the 'net!

Mmmm... Plutonium Guiness

!

Quote:

First, I see nukes. Then I look for Gums - and he doesn't disappoint. Then I look for one of the moderators - and sure enough, I'm right again! I just have to laugh at the way these discussions always seem to follow the same pattern every time.

Let's not forget to add a post by parrothead to the mix above.

Now it's complete.

Coming up on 1K posts there boy!

Thanks there falcon-watcher Very Happy

! Ten more... Wink

Forum: F-16 Armament & Stores

Nuclear Weapons on the Falcon