A remarkable anniversary in the history of Lockheed Martin’s F-16 programme will be marked on 20 January, exactly 50 years after a prototype of the lightweight fighter got airborne for the first time.
Our recently published extensive report into the milestone tells the story behind General Dynamics test pilot Phil Oestricher’s unscheduled outing from Edwards AFB in the YF-16, the programme’s official first flight on 2 February 1974, and the single-engined type’s evolution into the world’s most widely-flown fighter. Click here to read the full article.
To coincide with the 50th anniversary event, this gallery of images highlights some of the additional notable events, unusual F-16 variants, and leading operators of the US airframer’s evergreen fighter, as it continues to enjoy production success for multiple customers.
European Defence Editor Craig Hoyle has reported on the UK, European and international military aviation sector for almost 30 years, and has also been the Editor of Flight International since 2015. He joined FlightGlobal in 2003, and also compiles our annual World Air Forces directory.View full Profile
The long-stalled deal to provide Turkey with 40 Lockheed Martin F-16V fighters was approved by arms regulators, who simultaneously advanced a proposal to sell 40 F-35A stealth fighters to Greece – orders worth a gargantuan $31.6 billion to Lockheed.
L3Harris Technologies has secured a contract to rapidly produce and deliver Red Wolf air-launched weapons to meet the US Marine Corps’ (USMC’s) Precision Attack Strike Munition (PASM) requirement.
Canadian investigators have disclosed that a WestJet Boeing 737-700 rejected take-off at high speed after the first officer’s seat unlatched and fully shifted backwards. The first officer had been the flying pilot at the time of the 26 January departure to Calgary from Comox, on Vancouver Island. According to the ...
The French navy will field its first vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) version of the Aliaca uncrewed aerial system later this year, under an amended contract with Airbus Helicopters.
Uzbekistan has become the latest customer for Embraer’s C-390 Millennium, with the Central Asian country revealed as being behind a previously undisclosed order for the transport.
The Irish Air Corps is poised to begin operations with its newly acquired Dassault Aviation Falcon 6X, with the asset to be employed primarily in a VIP transport role.
