F 16 & QF 16

USAF rules out new F-15s and F-16s to narrow ‘fighter gap’
Delays and cost overruns for the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] have not changed the US Air Force's plans to deactivate about 250 fighters later this year, says Chief of Staff Gen Norton Schwartz.
The USAF, however, has begun destructive tests on [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to prove the viability for a potential service life extension programme, says Schwartz, who spoke to reporters on 30 March after a breakfast speaking event hosted by the Air Force Association.
"At 10-15% of the cost [of a new fighter] you could perform a SLEP," Schwartz says, "which would get us close to where we need to be in, we think, a more affordable way".
Schwartz also rejected buying the latest version of the F-15 and F-16 -- or "fourth-generation-plus" fighters -- despite a new two-year slip nearly 90% projected cost overrun for the F-35.
"To be sure, we do not think it prudent to utilize precious procurement dollars for anything but fifth-generation aircraft," Schwartz says.
The USAF has terminated Lockheed F-22 production with 186 aircraft in inventory after 2011, leaving only plans to acquire 1,763 F-35s over the next 30 years to modernize its fighter fleet. Meanwhile, the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review set the tactical aircraft requirement at about 2,000 fighters.
During the F-35's projection lifetime in production, however, the USAF faces a growing fighter inventory gap made even more complicated by the Lockheed's cost and schedule problems.
Last year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported alarming trends. Twelve Air National Guard units today patrol US airspace with F-16s scheduled for retirement by 2020. As of late 2008, only one of the 12 units was scheduled to receive F-35s by 2020 to continue flying the mission.
The increasing gap in the fighter inventory prompted a US lawmaker to predict the air force's dependence on the F-35 will be a "monumental mistake".
"When these F-16s and F-15s are no longer able to fly and the F-35s still has problems because somebody hasn't figured it out, you're going to have air guard units that are not going to have planes," says Representative Frank LoBiondo, who represents a district that includes an F-16 base, during a 24 March hearing.
But Schwartz repeated the USAF's long-standing policy that buying F-15s and F-16 today is senseless because they will be obsolete long before they can be replaced by a modern fighter design.
To bridge the gap, the USAF considers it more logical to perform a service life extension programme (SLEP). But Schwartz added an important caveat. The USAF still has not determined whether the SLEP would be technically or financially viable.
"I think it's pretty clear our strategy is to pursue service life extension to the extent that that is required rather than purchase new, four-and-a-half generation while we are bringing on F-35," he says. "We do not think it is a wise to dissipate the limited pool of resources that we have available for F-35 by procuring new lesser capable aircraft that will last as long."

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 27, 2010 --

The first retired F-16 Falcon arrived at Boeing's [NYSE: BA] Cecil Field facility in Jacksonville on April 22 to begin conversion into a QF-16 aerial drone.

Boeing received a $69.7 million contract from the U.S. Air Force on March 8 for the first phase of the QF-16 program.

The Boeing-led team, which includes BAE Systems, will begin engineering, manufacturing and development of the full-scale manned and unmanned QF-16s during Phase 1.

The drones will be used as aerial targets for newly developed weapons and tactics.

They will be a higher-performing aircraft than the QF-4s they will replace.

The team will receive six F-16s during the program's development phase.

After modification to the QF-16 configuration, they will serve as prototypes for engineering tests and evaluation prior to low-rate initial production. Up to 126 QF-16 drones will be converted beginning in 2014.

US defence officials have confirmed that Oman has asked for a potential sale of 18 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] F-16 Block 50/52s fighters for $3.5 billion in a move that dampens the UK government's hopes to offload a batch of new Eurofighter Typhoons.

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) informed Congress on 3 August that the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of Oman is seeking a "possible" F-16 purchase, which is most likely aimed at replacing 16 Sepecat Jaguars.
The announcement comes five years after Oman purchased a batch of 12 F-16 Block 50s, which are powered by the General Electric F110-GE-129 engine.

The DSCA says the potential second batch of F-16s could be Block 50s or Block 52s. The latter is powered by the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 engine. The deal also would include the ITT advanced integrated defence electronic warfare suites (AIDEWS) and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] APG-68(V)9 radar.

If the contract is signed, Oman would give Lockheed a fresh boost in the region as the manufacturer seeks to close more F-16 deals with Qatar and Iraq.

But a contract signing for F-16s would mark a surprise reversal for the UK government, which indicated only four months ago that a Typhoon sale in Muscat could be imminent.
UK officials hope to offload Typhoons that the government is committed to buying in Tranche 3 of the Eurofighter programme.

Meanwhile, the F-16 programme remains in demand despite the arrival in six years of its successor the F-35A. On 20 July, Lockheed officials noted the F-16 has a firm backlog of 86 F-16s, including 20 fighters recently ordered as part of Egypt's sixth follow-on order.

The production line in Fort Worth, Texas, is expected to continue through 2013, with new deals possibly extending the programme for several years beyond, Lockheed says.

As a member of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, Oman has joined a regional arms race as tensions with Iran escalate across the Strait of Hormuz.

USAF considers new F-15s and F-16s to beat fighter shortfall

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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] today that for the first time reveals how US Air Force plans to deal with a fighter shortfall that is expected to reach 200 jets by 2025.

The GAO report summarizes two mandatory reports the USAF delivered in March to Congress. There are four options:

1. Extending the service life of and modernizing about 300 F-16 aircraft
2. Increasing annual F-35 procurement above 80 aircraft per year
3. Procuring new upgraded variants of legacy aircraft such as the F-16 and F-15
4. A combination of options 2 and 3

The fact that the USAF has even considered resuming F-16 and F-15 orders could be very significant. Two decades of USAF leaders have consistently upheld the all-stealth rule for combat aircraft.

The USAF reports, however, do not endorse the non-stealth procurement option, according to the GAO. Modernizing and extending the service life of 300 F-16s could provide the same capability as buying new jets, but at 10-15% of the cost, GAO says. On the other hand, the GAO notes that the service life extension program for the F-16 only restores the aircraft's original threshold of 8,000 hours, rather than truly extending its lifetime.

Dutch F16 at RIAT 2010

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Possible F-16 Production Lull Stirs Worries

Since production of the F-16 started in 1976, more than 4,500 of the single-engine fighters have been sold to more than 20 nations. Now, however, the decades-long production run for the fighter, once said to “sell itself” to customers globally, is facing an unfamiliar predicament: potential shutdown.

To stave off termination activities in the hope that near-term deals will come to fruition, prime contractor Lockheed Martin is paying some of its suppliers’ bills, much as Boeing has done for the C-17 and F-15. However, Lockheed will not receive help from the U.S. Air Force, which is continuing with its plans to buy the company’s new single-engine, stealthy F-35 while eyeing an upgrade to add 50% more life to its existing F-16s.

With a total order book of 4,540, the F-16 has been a wildly successful project. But details remain to be sorted out for pending deals with Iraq and Oman.

Lockheed Martin is feeling pressure from delays in sealing deals with Oman for 12-18 fighters and Iraq for another 18, and the company is funding some long-lead activities at its own risk. Counting recent sales to Morocco and Egypt, Lockheed has a backlog of 57 aircraft. The production rate is 18 per year, and each aircraft requires 30-36 months of cycle time including orders of the longest-lead parts. One company official notes that a decision needs to be made by year-end on whether to continue financing line activities into next year if the deals are not signed.

“We are protecting the schedule,” says Bill McHenry, F-16 business development director. “We have protected components” to ensure that those longest-lead suppliers can avoid work gaps. McHenry declined to say how much has been spent to finance these operations. “Sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, many of our suppliers are going to reach the point where they need an order or they are just going to go out of business.”

Although the sales to Iraq and Oman have “slowed down,” McHenry suggests that both are “actively being pursued” now, and “fundamentally we have a letter of acceptance in progress.” Congress has not objected to the sales, but the government-to-government talks to finalize details are still under way.

Some USAF leaders had objected to the sale of F-16s to Iraq over concerns that the young nation’s pilots would not be ready to operate or maintain the high-performing system. Additionally, unrest in the Middle East is thought to have contributed to delays in the projected sales.

Potential buys from Romania and Taiwan are also being eyed. Taiwan hopes to buy as many as 66 aircraft and Romania has eyed as many as 48. The latter deal may see progress, with senior Romanian officials slated to visit Washington this month. A decision on the sale to Taiwan—which is politically thorny, given objections from China—is expected from the White House by the end of next month. Last week, Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced legislation to support the Taiwan sale. Cornyn, who represents the state where the F-16 final assembly line is located, argues that the sale could generate $8.7 billion in economic output and support employment for workers on the line.

However, the U.S. Air Force, which operates more than 1,000 F-16s of varying blocks, has no plans to procure more F-16s. Rather, the service is exploring options to extend the life of its fleet until the F-35 is introduced into service in enough numbers to handle the suppression and destruction of enemy air defense roles.

Originally designed for 4,500 flying hours, a previous upgrade extended the lifespan to 8,000 hr. But after conducting a monitoring program on the fleet, Air Force officials have found that they are flying the aircraft 15-20% “less hard” than planned, meaning pilots are not flying the jets to their maximum limits regarding such elements as speed or g-forces. This is partly because in the decade since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the F-16s have been used largely to support ground forces or patrol the skies in permissive airspace, missions that do not require the taxing maneuvers seen while operating in hostile environments, says Maj. Luther Cross, F-16 program element monitor for Air Combat Command.

This has prompted the Air Force to calculate what officials call equivalent flying hours for each airframe, just as they do actual flying hours. Using the equivalent-hour metric, service officials are able to estimate the projected life, taking into account lighter use of the fleet in recent years, says Cross. This practice is also being applied to other fleets in the service.

This alone adds “several years” of life to each aircraft, he says. Still, the Air Force is considering a structural service life extension program (SLEP) to the newest Block 40/50 F-16s, with a 12,000-hr. goal per airframe.

The aim is to develop a program that is scalable and provides Air Force leaders with the flexibility to add or remove aircraft as needed without spiking cost. Price is a major consideration, given the pressure to reduce spending in light of debt-reduction talks in Washington. Notionally, the service is considering the SLEP for 300 of the Block 40/50s, but this could change if the F-35 delivery schedule continues to shift.

The Air Force has 640 of the later Block 40/50 airframes—ranging in age from 17-21 years—and another 400 Block 25, 30 and 32s averaging 24 years in age.

Lockheed Martin is working on a study contract and is conducting durability tests on an F-16 with a goal of subjecting it to 24,000 hr. of flight, twice the goal of the SLEP, says Cross. The trials, slated to end in 2017, are intended to reveal which structural components must be included in the SLEP.

To keep the F-16’s mission systems relevant along with its structure, Cross says the Air Force is exploring an avionics upgrade that would allow the aircraft to operate in the projected electromagnetic spectrum environment expected beyond 2025.

This improvement would include an active, electronically scanned array radar as well as a replacement for the AN/ALQ-213 electronic warfare management system, says Cross. Additionally, two 4 X 4-in. cockpit displays would be upgraded to a single 6 X 8-in. screen, providing a better interface for using an infrared targeting pod. Finally, the aircraft must be able to operate using the Integrated Broadcast Service.