F-16 Fighting Falcon
The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a supersonic, lightweight, fighter aircraft used by the US Air Force and the air forces of several foreign nations. The F-16 was designed and developed as a multi-role tactical fighter by the American firm General Dynamics. It is also manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The Fighting Falcon prototype, the YF-16, performed its first flight on February 2, 1974, and was introduced in active service with the US Air Force on August 17, 1978. More than 4,400 units have been manufactured since 1974. The F-16 has served during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2000s.
The General Dynamics F-16 was a single-engined, one-seated, jet aircraft with fixed cropped-delta wings which blended with the fuselage. Smaller and lighter than its predecessors, the Fighting Falcon was conceived as a cost-effective combat "workhorse" that can perform various kinds of missions and maintain around-the-clock readiness. The F-16 was fitted with a frameless bubble canopy for better visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control during combat maneuvers, and reclined seat to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot. The F-16 has an internal M61 Vulcan cannon in the left wing root and has 11 hardpoints for mounting various missiles, bombs and pods.
The F-16 was the world’s first aircraft intentionally designed to be slightly aerodynamically unstable. This technique, called "relaxed static stability" (RSS), was incorporated to further enhance the aircraft’s maneuver performance. An aircraft with negative static stability will be more maneuverable than one that is positively stable. When supersonic, a negatively stable aircraft actually exhibits a more positive-trending (and in the F-16’s case, a net positive) static stability due to aerodynamic forces shifting aft between subsonic and supersonic flight. At subsonic speeds, however, the fighter is constantly on the verge of going out of control.
Specifications of the F-16 Fighting Falcon
Engine: one F110-GE-100 afterburning turbofan
Maximum speed: Mach 2+ (1,500 mph)
Range: 2,620 mi (4,220 km) with drop tanks
Combat radious: 340 mi (550 km)
Length: 49 ft 5 in (15.06 m)
Wingspan: 32 ft 8 in (9.96 m)
Crew: 1 (pilot)
Avionics: AN/APG-68 radar
Weapons: one 20mm M61 Vulcan gatling gun; six 6× AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles; six AGM-45 Shrike air-to-ground missiles; up to 7,700 kg of payload
