F-16 Fleet Reports

F-16 aircraft production lines

Previous: F-16 aircraft orders Next: F-16 aircraft version production

Data

This graph shows the split of F-16 airframe production between the different production lines. Totals include both aircraft that have been delivered and aircraft that are still on order. General Dynamics, LM Aero and Lockheed represent the same original Fort Worth production line, but under different ownership. The delivery date is used as an indication of the production year.

Disclaimer: This report is generated in real-time from our F-16 Aircraft Database. We strive to keep our database up-to-date and complete, nevertheless for some countries data is hard to verify (e.g. accuracy for the Middle East is only 90%). Please contact us if you have any questions or feedback.

Horizontal Axis: Years during which F-16s have been produced and delivered
Vertical Axis: The number of airframes delivered each year from the different production lines
Series: The different series represent different production lines, with the exception of General Dynamics, LM Aero and Lockheed, which all denote the Fort Worth production line

Click on the color labels to disable/enable series; click on the zoom icons to zoom in (+) or out (-). Click on the full screen icon to display the graph full screen.

Analysis

Early F-16A aircraft near completion on the first European F-16 assembly line at SABCA in Belgium.

F-16 production is split over 5 different production lines in as many different countries: Fokker in The Netherlands, Sabca in Belgium, Samsung in Korea, Turkish Aircraft Industries in Turkey and the Forth Worth production line in the US. The Forth Worth production line has changed name twice over the years as General Dynamics was acquired by Lockheed, which then merged with Martin into Lockheed Martin Aero. A total of 4428 F-16s have been produced at the time of writing (February 2010), the vast majority of which on the Fort Worth production line: 3501 airframes, or roughly 79%).

Construction of the YF-16 prototypes and the Full Scale Development aircraft was done on the Fort Worth production line. When volume production started for the first customers (USAF and the European Participating Air Forces), two European production lines were involved as well, as part of a compensation package. Both SABCA in Belgium and Fokker in the Netherlands produced parts (both for European and USAF airframes), and were responsible for the assembly of the European F-16s: SABCA for Belgian and Danish F-16s, Fokker for Dutch and Norwegian F-16s. Sabca produced a total of 222 airframes (covering roughly 5%) and Fokker produced 300 airframes (covering 7%).

In 1988, Turkish Aircraft Industries started building F-16s for the Turkish Air Force, and later TAI also produced F-16s for the Egyptian Air Force. A total of 277 F-16s have been built by TAI so far, representing 6% of the total fleet.

In 1995, a fifth and final production line started building F-16s: Samsung in South Korea produced a total of 128 F-16aircraft for the RoKAF. Samsung accounts for 3% of total F-16 production.

At the time of writing, only the Fort Worth line remains open, and with the current order back log is schedule to remain active until 2012-2013.

Visitor Comments

Note: Errors and omissions in the above text can be added here. Please note: your comments will be displayed immediately on this page.

If you wish to send a private comment to the webmasters, please use the Contact Us link.