Analysis
The Mid-Life Update programme was mainly intended to backport some of the F-16C/D avionics improvements to the F-16 fleets of the original European operators. This photgraph shows
MLU aircraft from
Belgium,
Denmark, the
Netherlands, and
Norway.
Two operational F-16 models were actially converted from older airframes. The first is the F-16
block 15 ADF (Air Defense Fighter), a variant specifically designed for the USAF to take over the interception role from the ageing F-106 and F-102 aircraft, traditionally assigned to the Fighter Intercept Squadrons of the Air National Guard. The F-16
ADF was capable of firing the AIM-7 Sparrow and was the first F-16 to be equiped with an advanced
IFF system. All ADF airframes were converted from existing block 15 aircraft.
The second operational converted model is the F-16
block 20 MLU. This Mid-Life Upgrade was designed to significantly increase the operational capabilities of the older block 1-5-10-15 aircraft still in service with the four original European customers (
Belgium,
Denmark, The Netherland and
Norway). It introduced many C/D capabilities into the A/B models, including a new Modular Mission Computer, upgraded radar, advanced stores management, etc. Most MLU aircraft are by definition upgrades of existing A/B aircraft. The majority of MLUs were upgraded from
block 15 and
block 15OCU airframes, with a small portion upgraded from
block 1, 5 and 10.
As far as the experimental models are concerned, all of them (both
F-16XL and NF-16) were converted from the limited batch of F-16A Full-Scale Development aircraft, of whch 8 were built - 6 F-16As and 2 F-16Bs. Interestingly enough, even the F-16B XL was converted from an F-16A airframe.
