March 10, 2005 (by Lieven Dewitte) -
SABCA, a Belgian Aerospace company, delivered the last Belgian Air Component F-16 to receive the Mid-Life Update (MLU) in ceremonies on 8 March at its Charleroi-Gosselies plant.
The F-16 was also the 1,000th to be built or upgraded by SABCA since coproductionbegan in 1978. SABCA is currently involved inthe Falcon STAR/M3 upgrade program.
STAR, or structural Augmentation Roadmap, extends the service life of the F-16.
The M3 modification allows the aircraft to use the third version of the
MLU software, which enables the F-16 to fire up-to-date air-to-air missiles and drop satellite-guided bombs.
