News Archive

F-16s, pilots, aircraft maintainers and support personnel from the 419th FW at Hill AFB will deploy to South-West Asia in mid-May for two weeks. Saving fuel and trans-Atlantic wear on aircraft, Carswell crews (301st FW) will fly and maintain the Hill F-16s from early to mid-June. ...

NASA's F-16XL #1 research aircraft has completed the flight verification of a recently installed Digital Flight Control System (DFCS) at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. ...

The United Arab Emirates is expected to announce next month its intention to buy some 80 F-16 warplanes worth about $6 billion from Lockheed-Martin. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khalifa bin Zaid al-Nahayan, a son to UAE President Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahayan, is due to go to Washington next month on an invitation by Vice President Al Gore. An announcement on the intention to go for the F-16 could be made at that time. The UAE is after F-16s that can conduct long-haul operations without the need of aerial refueling and equipped with systems like the HARM(High-Speed Anti-Radar Missiles) and AMRAAM (Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles). ...

The pilot of an F-16C fighter was killed April 22 at 8:30 p.m. when his aircraft crashed at a bombing range 15 miles west of Carrizozo, N.M....

A New Mexico Air National Guard F-16C fighter plane crashed into rugged terrain during a training mission, killing the pilot. Two other pilots flying in the same training exercise Wednesday night saw the crash and a fireball....

Lockheed Martin has begun testing the flight control software for its X-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept demonstrator aircraft in flights conducted with the Variable Stability In-Flight Simulator Test Aircraft (NF-16D), or VISTA/F-16....

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan has awarded Lockheed Martin a second major contract to continue manufacture and delivery of components for Japan's new support fighter, the F-2. ...

Forty-one F-16 fighter jets based in Utah have crashed since the planes were first stationed at Hill Air Force Base nearly 20 years ago....

The Royal Norwegian Air Force is planning to enhance its Northrop Grumman AN/ALQ-162 internally-mounted deception jammers equipping its F-16 force, using the Shadowbox II upgrade. This will increase the capability of the baseline jammer to deny lock-on by pulse-Doppler (PD) and airborne intercept (AI) radar threats. The upgraded jammer is a "form-fit" replacement unit. ...

Seventy-five people have been killed in a big Turkish military operation against Kurdish rebels in the mountainous southeast of the country, military officials said on Wednesday. ...

A new commander accepted the reigns of the 388th Fighter Wing, Hill AFB. Colonel Gilmary M. Hostage took over for Colonel Ron. E. Fly. Colonel Hostage returns to Hill after being assigned there in 1985. The former 421st Fighter Squadron Black Widow has more than 3, 200 flying hours- 1, 700 of them in the F-15 and the F-16. ...

The RSAF has taken delivery of the first of 30 Block 52 F-16CJ/DJs ordered from LMTAS. In a ceremony at Fort Worth, Chief of Singapore Defense Forces Lt. Gen. Bey Soo Khiang, formally accepted an F-16D with serial #94-0274....

The 34th FS departs for Nellis AFB April 12 to support advanced stages of the F-15C Weapons Instructor Course. Nine F-16s and about 100pilots and maintenance personnel deploy through April 25. ...

The 421st Figther Squadron deploys 18 F-16s and 270 people to Southwest Asia on a scheduled 45-day rotation starting April 18. The unit will support Operation Southern Watch by enforcing the No Fly Zone over southern Iraq. ...

Norway's Defense Ministry has published a plan to reduce the airforce structure from three main airbases and 14 smaller bases to four main airbases and eight deployment bases. ...

The Chilean government has requested details of financing proposals from companies bidding for its multi-billion dollar multi-role fighter requirement. ...

The 12th AF demo team showed off the F-16 at the "Feria International Del Aire y El Espacio", the largest air and trade show in Latin America. In Santiago, Chile, hundreds of thousands of people watched and listened as the team demonstrated the capabilities of the F-16FightingFalcon. Capt. Bruce "Blade" Everett performed daily March 24-29for the crowds at Los Cerillos Airport. ...

Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero) is developing an upgradecapability for the F-16 fighter aircraft. ST Aero's F-16 activities are limited to depot-level maintenance insupport of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), but it is envisaged that the service's oldest F-16A/B aircraft will be in line for upgrades, while other F-16 users in the region (including Thailand) will also develop upgrade requirements. ...

Rumor has it that a benignly cheap price is being asked for second-hand F-16s, which will help beef up the African Crisis Response Force, should it ever come to anything. ...