Six F-16s and 80 pilots and support personnel from the US Air Force Reserve are taking part in Exercise "Cope Tiger '98" with air force personnel from Singapore and Thailand. The manoeuvres, staged in Singapore and Thailand from8 to 20 February, also involve US Marines from Iwakuni, Japan.
The US Air Force plans to equip up to almost 250 F-16s of the Air Force Reserve Command and Air National Guard with targeting pods for close support and battlefield air interdiction. Candidate systems must be self-contained and capable of recognizing ground targets at stand-off distances and designate them for attack with laser-guided weapons. The contract is scheduled for award in August.
The 198th FS, 156th FW (Air National Guard) will convert from a 15 aircraft F-16A/B ADF fighter unit to an eight aircraft C-130E unit in early FY 99. The unit is based at Luis Munoz-Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico.
Sources close to the military told Reuters two Turkish F-16 fighter jets that took off from Dyarbakir and Cobra helicopters based near Sirnak bombed rebel targets in northern Iraq's Metina area on Tuesday.
An Air Force investigation report released Tuesday blamed pilot error for the midair collision of two New Jersey Air National Guard F-16 fighter jets off the Atlantic coast last September.
Pratt & Whitney's newest engine, the F100-PW-229A, for F-15 and F-16 aircraft, demonstrated unprecedented performance in recent altitude tests at the company's Willgoos test facility. A
On Sunday February 8th part of the French team that went to Red Flag 98-2 made a four day stop in Venezuela to conduct an exercise with the FAV. The delegation included 4 Mirage 2000-Ds, a C-130 and a KC-135. During the exercise, called Miranda 98, the French aircraft together with Venezuelan Mirage 50Vs and F-16s trained on daylight PGM delivery using the new Litening pods (carried only by theF-16s), while FAV helicopters and support and cargo aircraft from both airforces conducted an exercise of their own. On the 11th all forces joined and conducted a combined exercise, Red Flagstyle but on a much smaller scale.
U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered 19 combat planes and about 30 support aircraft to join the U.S. force gathered in case President Bill Clinton decides to attack Iraq. Six F-117 stealth fighter-bombers, six B-52 bombers, six F-16 fighters and one B-1B bomber, go to Kuwait, Bahrain and the Indian Ocean Island of Diego Garcia.
Selected Air National Guard (ANG) F-16C's (being equipped with an advanced reconnaissance pod developed by the Aeronautical Systems Center) are assured of the pod's medium-altitude surveillance capability thanks to an Air Force contract awarded today. The center's Theater Airborne Reconnaissance System (TARS) Program Office has awarded a $6. 25 million contract modification to Lockheed Martin Fairchild Systems, Syosset, N. Y., for six Medium Altitude Electro Optical (MAEO) sensors and associated circuit cards for the TARS pods, which are carried externally on F-16C's.
The Boeing Company has successfully conducted the first aircraft separation flight test of its Joint Air-to- Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). The Jan. 26 missile separation test was conducted from an F-16 C/D flying over the Gulf of Mexico from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
Edwards AFB is currently testing a new configuration for the Wild WeaselF-16 role. 4 HARMs will be carried on the 4 inner-most wing stations, 1centerline fuel tank, 3 AMRAAMS, 2 on wingtip launchers and 1 on the outer wing hardpoint, 1 AIM-9 on the port outer wing hardpoint. That is believed to be for specific missions, instead of hunting missions.
The Clinton administration released today a $257 billion defense budget for fiscal 1999 that would boost production of the Bell-Boeing V-22Osprey, but contains no orders for Lockheed Martin's F-16 fighter.
Senator James Exon and former US Senator Larry Pressler discussed Washington's offer to sell 26 F-16 fighter planes to the Philippines, which has embarked on an effort to modernize its aging fleet of World WarII-vintage aircraft.
Air Force investigators reported on Thursday that birds and pilot error were responsible for a collision of two military jets over California last year that killed two people.
Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF)F-16 fighters used Paveway II (Mk 82) laser-guided bombs for the first time last September. They attacked targets designated by a forward air control team from the Telemark Battalion, the Norwegian Army's contribution to NATO's Immediate Reaction Forces (IRF). The exercise epitomized the changes taking place in the RNoAF under the auspices of `Project Phoenix'. In a program expected to cost NKr4.5 billion ($602.2 million), the RNoAF is also acquiring the AIM-120BAdvanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) - providing a beyond-visual-range air-to-air capability for the first time. Deliveries, under a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract with the USA, began in 1995 and are due for completion in 2000.
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