Forum: F-16 Armament & Stores

Hey, I am from Egypt you know let me tell you, or confirm f-16.net's webmaster article that here in Egypt, we've got F-16 - Harpoon capability.

If you be more sure than ever here is a quote from the Islamic Air Forces Survey in Air Forces Monthly November 2001 issue: "The last batch of 21 F-16s Block 40, with LANTRIN targeting and navigation pods, was delievered in May 2000.The first 4 of a follow-on batch of 24 Block 40F-16s(12Cs-12Ds), under Peace Vector VI, were delivered in June this year(2001) [...] A total of ten of the 24 had been manufactured by the end of August [...] Associated with the $1.2billion Peace Vector VI contract is the supply of 28 F110-GE-100B turbofans, fire control radars, Boeing/MDC AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, ALR-56M RWRs, and ALE-47 chaff/flare dispensers. Earlier F-16s will be upgraded to bring them into line with the newer models. Some of the 39 convertion kits ordered in 2000 under a $39million contract with Northrop, upgrading them from Block I to II, could be also used on the F-16."

Hope its useful for you and the site, although I don't think the best website in the world on F-16s would benefit from such a thing, its old news, and quite frankly, they are the BEST!

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The next goal is that there is now a mod for Harpoon to make it a GPS/INS weapon to hit land targets. Saves you from having to buy the pricey SLAM or SLAM-ER. Wink

Got that right, just replace the warhead with a GPS/INS compatible warhead, but still that will be expensive and I don't think the USAF or USN will tend to buy them in a bulk, as each have opted for SLAM and -ER, plus each have their own dedicated ground attack aircraft with a handfull of ground attack weapons. Why spend money on something you already have when you can invest it in a newer and better project, like the SLAM-ER, F/A-22, more F/A-18E/Fs, etc...

I was being Egypt specific. Better than nothing. The JDAM kit thing for EAF is still up in the air.... Harpoons aren't cheap but the ability to do a standoff GPS/INS attack on a high profile / high risk target would be valuable.

Well a JDAM kit on Mks for the EAF would be a real boost to Egyptian Air Force Ground attack missions, a great boost for our F-16s. Plus, it's cheap, their cost is..., well I can't remember but will be sure when I review my sources.

Nevertheless, a GPS/INS Harpoon would be a "good" ground attack weapon, but not needed for the time being, I hope we get JDAM's as soon as possible.

Hello Karim, as you are Egyptian, I wonder if you can answer a question I have kept in mind for a while: What is the actual attitude of the Egyptian Air Force about Isreali Air Force? Are they still seen as the main potential opponent and does the EAF still bear Israeli forces in mind when training? Or, on the contrary, does the EAF now consider the Israeli forces in a cooler way? (yes, I admit it is probably a stupid question Confused

)

No sweat man!

The Egyptians made a peace deal with the Israelis, but the EAF still has a thing towards the IAF, yes they are until now our main opponent, the EAF's main training to maintain air dominance over Egyptian skies, of course as other Air Forces do, we train on ground-attack, and anti-shipping attacks(rare), the ASW is left for the Navy, we are here for peace, we don't want a war, what we want is to boost our economy, and protect our land, Egyptian politics will try to save Palestanians and maintain peace between the Arabs, Islamic world and Israel, that's why we are here.

OK, I think I got it, thanks a lot! Very Happy

Your welcom man, I just want to say also that the anti-shipping role with the ASW is consentrated on the Navy, but the EAF still trains on Anti-shipping roles using their Harpoon-equipped Vipers.

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/ ... /fzj4.html
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/photo/url/d/i/ ... 9.jpg.html

17 June 2007:
Air show at Hua Lien AB, Taiwan.
Harpoon anti-ship missile first seen in public on ROCAF F-16.

This topic was just discussed over on airwarriors.com, a naval aviation forum. I linked some people back to here to find some good info on the viper and the 'poons.

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/ ... /fzhp.html
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/photo/url/d/i/ ... 0.jpg.html

17 June 2007:
Air show at Hua Lien AB, Taiwan.
Harpoon anti-ship missile first seen in public on ROCAF F-16.

(IMO, more like an umbrella shaped as a F-16, for civilians.) 8D

[quote="Pumpkin"]to my best knowledge, the RoCAF Viper is the only operator ever test fired the Harpoon? By any chance, anyone has a link to picture of the Viper armed with Harpoon?[/quote]

Probably ancient news to you F-16 maniacs...

http://yorkbbs.ca/forum/viewthread.php?tid=138673
claims:

On 1998.08.27, US DOD announced selling Harpoon and Stinger missiles, and anti-submarine torpedoes, to Taiwan.

In 2001.04, F-16B #6821 of 401st FW, ROCAF, fired a Harpoon, and hit a retired ROCN Yang Class destroyer.
The first time any F-16 successfully fired a Harpoon.

Searching by this serial number...

http://www.taiwanairpower.org/af/f16.html
reports:

"On April 3, 2001, F-16B 6821 of the 26th TFS/401st TCW test-fired an AGM-84A from its port-side station at a decommissioned destroyer. This test, which took place at the [Chiu Peng] Test Range during the annual [Han Kuang] 17 Exercise, is believed to be the first firing of the AGM-84 from an F-16 anywhere in the world."

Which reminds me: back when I was playing Falcon 3.0 and its add-ons, I myself never fired the Harpoon. On the first day, during the first mission, I always gave the Harpoons to another flight, and tasked that flight with disabling the Admiral Kuznetsov. Because I didn't bother to learn how to target the Harpoon. 8D

] Searching by this serial number...

http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5- ... s/08-1.jpg
in
http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5- ... pt08-3.htm

"Harpoon away."

Uh, never loaded these, not a primary munition... but still cool to look at, lol!

Forum: F-16 Armament & Stores

F-16 & Harpoon