As we all know, the financial resources needed to research a new type of fighter are unimaginable. Lockheed acquired the production department of F16 fighter from General Dynamics in 1993 and sold it everywhere in the world, so except for F16 fighters "Fighting Falcon" is also nicknamed "International Fighter." In addition, domestic military fans also gave it a sweet nickname, "Pomegranate Sister." It can be said that if the F16 fighter jet has not been adopted by the world Accepted and purchased, the United States is proud of the F-22 "Raptor" fighter and F35 "Lightning II" fighter development cycle will be extended by several years.
high-low matching F15 and F16
also had the intention of buying in China during the honeymoon period in my country and the United States. As a result, due to their high price and the castrated version, they finally ended up. Since its production in 1976, more than 4,600 F16 fighter jets have been produced. Except for more than 2,000 aircraft used by the US military itself, the rest have been sold to 26 countries, including Denmark, South Korea, Turkey, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium. Obtained the production authorization of F16 fighter. The F16 fighter is considered to be one of the best three-generation aircraft. Many people may have no idea about more than 4,600 fighters. According to data, there are less than 900 fighters of various types in India, less than 500 in Pakistan, and even the United States’ old enemy Russia has less than 4,000 fighters. F16 fighters. It is also evident that it can have such a large production volume and its excellent degree. Let's take a look at the legendary "machine" of the F-16 "Fighting Falcon" fighter.
The picture above shows Lockheed Martin's logo
which has been imitated and never surpassed by the F16 fighter.
Driven by the "fighter mafia" in 1971, the United States proposed a "light fighter" plan, which emphasizes high thrust ratio, high mobility, and outstanding dogfighting (close-range air combat) performance, with an empty weight of less than 9 tons It also needs low-cost, light-weight fighters that can be deployed in large numbers. The F16 fighter was born under this requirement. The F16 fighter is a third-generation multi-role fighter . The multi-role fighter means that it has the ability to perform any task, such as ground attack, seizure of air supremacy, and expulsion. Patrols and so on. So far, in the 42 years of its service, many models have been developed, such as single F16A, C, E and double F16B, D, F, not only that, but also known as the "Heisei Zero War" The F-2 fighter is also developed based on the F16 fighter.
The picture above shows the Japanese "Heisei Zero War" F-2 fighter. The large-size version of the
F16 fighter, the F16XL fighter. The success of the
F-16 fighter jet opened the door to the General Dynamics . In 1980, General Dynamics carried out a "supersonic cruise and maneuvering" program at its own expense, which tried to replace the triangle arrow for the F16 fighter. The improved model of F16 is named F16XL fighter. This fighter is worthy of its XL name. The capacity of the fuel tank alone has increased by 82%. What’s more terrifying is that the number of external weapon points has increased to 27, 27. What is the concept? European Typhoon fighter jets only have 13 hanging points. Unfortunately, the improved F16 fighter was eventually lost to the F15E heavy fighter-bomber in the bidding. Although it has two more hanging points than the F15E, one The pros and cons of fighters cannot be evaluated solely by the number of points.
The picture above shows the F16 fighter and F16XL in the same frame. The zeroth flight of the
YF16 technical verification aircraft.
is different from ordinary aircraft, the F16 fighter not only has its first flight, but also has zero flight. February 2 1974Japan was the first flight of the YF16 technical verification aircraft, but it had already flown once 10 days ago. On January 20, 1974, the YF16 technical demonstrator suddenly produced a violent lateral vibration when test pilots were conducting a 200KM/H high-speed taxi test. After the right horizontal tail was damaged, the aircraft entered a lateral PIO ( (Pilot-induced shock) The aircraft will continue to operate within a few seconds. In the event of a crash in such a zero-altitude but high-speed situation, not only the aircraft cannot be kept, but the pilot cannot escape by ejection. At the juncture, the pilot hurriedly pushed the throttle to forcibly take off to avoid danger and saved this precious technical demonstrator. Each aircraft must undergo a taxiing experiment before its first flight. The experiment is generally divided into three stages, low speed, medium speed and high speed. During low speed taxiing, it can check whether the aircraft's operating system is flexible enough and whether there is Virtual position, whether electronic components are abnormal, etc. The latter is mainly to check whether the aircraft’s taxiing attitude is normal, whether the landing gear and brakes are reliable, etc. If the technical verification machine fails to pass this level, it cannot continue to develop. There are many factors that caused this accident. In addition to the sudden high wind, it is also inseparable from the joystick of the aircraft. The YF16 technology verification machine is the first to use a force-sensitive joystick. The principle of this joystick is that the base of the joystick is slightly deformed after being subjected to a force, and then the strain gauge is used to detect the deformation and finally the input is changed by computer calculation. The advantage of this kind of joystick is that it can judge the pilot's control range by the force that the pilot exerts on the stick, so as to achieve more delicate control of the fighter. However, this kind of joystick does not have the concept of stick volume, and the pilot has no experience in using this new type of joystick. After the plane was deflected, the pilot repeatedly issued instructions to roll left and right, which is also one of the important reasons that caused the plane to lose control.
The picture above shows the F16 fighter jet taking off. The overall design of
F16 is a single-engine light fighter with only one engine. The first-generation F16 fighters are divided into two models, A and B, which are single-seater and two-seater. The two-seater model is mainly used to train new pilots. The C and D of the F16 have upgraded avionics systems and improved engines.
The picture above shows the two-seater F16 fighter. The advantage of the
single-engine fighter is that it has one less engine than the twin-engine fighter, and the weight of the aircraft itself is reduced a lot. Similarly, since there is only one engine, the wind resistance of the aircraft will be much smaller. Single-engine fighters are much more flexible than dual-engine fighters. From an economic perspective, the daily maintenance of a fighter with one engine is much cheaper than a fighter with two engines. A single-engine fighter is also more fuel-efficient than a dual-engine fighter. The difference in size is not special. In many cases, the endurance of a single-engine fighter is not much worse than that of a dual-engine heavy fighter. For example, the maximum radius of F16 and F15 is only 400 kilometers.
In order to target Soviet supersonic fighters, the United States lengthened the upper lip attached to the surface of the F16 fighter jets for use at supersonic speeds. In the design of the F16 fighter, the most commendable place is its cockpit vision. The bubble-shaped cockpit cover of the F16 fighter jet gives the pilot a very wide vision. The cockpit cover glass is designed in one go without any frame. , But the towering canopy also brings great wind resistance to the F16 fighter, and the integrated canopy has no place to install the rear-view mirror, the pilot can only look at it by himself, but this is acceptable compared with a good view. Yes, another thing worth mentioning is the wing-mounting capability of the F16 fighter. The size of the F16 fighter is not very large, on the contrary, it is quite small, but it is such a small body that can mount air-to-air missiles on the wingtips. Very high requirements for the strength of the wing. The fly-by-wire control used by the
F16 is also one of the highlights of the fighter. The F16 fighter that introduces the fly-by-wire system further reduces its own weight, making its own excellent maneuverability to a higher level, and can also avoid The aircraft exceeded the safety limit. With a variety of outstanding mobility designs, F16 has been called the "King of Dog Fighting" as soon as it was released.
power system
The engine used in the early F16A/B fighter jets was the F100 turbofan engine developed by Hewlett-Packard Company. In addition to F16 fighter jets, this engine is also used in F15, F15 After adopting this engine, its performance is much stronger than that of the US military's main fighter F4 Phantom fighter. The use of the F100 engine not only strengthened the US military's confidence in fighting for air supremacy, but also allowed the US military to develop more tactics.
However, this engine also has its shortcomings. For F16 fighter jets, the most serious problem is the stalling of the blades in the compression section. Once this problem occurs, it will cause a stalling stall. Unless the engine is shut down and restarted, the failure cannot be resolved. This failure For the single-engine F16, it is quite dangerous. This also caused the early F16 fighter jets to have a higher chance of accidents due to the engine. The engine had a problem. The US military naturally went to Hewlett-Packard, but Hewlett-Packard believed that it was with the pilots. The operating habits of the United States are inseparable, so they refused to provide free services. For this reason, they also brought a lawsuit to the U.S. Congress. It is precisely because of this that the U.S. Air Force and the Navy had to negotiate a bid for a fighter alternate engine.
The picture above shows the F100 engine being tested. The
weapon system
F16 is a multi-purpose fighter, so it can carry a lot of weapons. The aircraft comes with a M61A2 20mm cannon. In 1981, the Israeli Air Force used it to shoot down one in the Bekaa Valley. A Syrian Mi-8 helicopter. Moreover, it can also mount low-attack rocket bays. On the ground, it can also mount B61 tactical nuclear bombs and a series of CBU cluster bombs. Not only that, it can also mount anti-radiation missiles on the ground. , Mozu, Mavericks and other high-performance ground missiles. Anti-radiation missiles and Mavericks launched by F16 during the Persian Gulf War severely damaged Iraq’s armored forces and radar stations. In terms of air-to-air missiles, it can mount a lot of them. Sparrow, Sidewinder, AIM-120, etc. can all be mounted on it.
The picture above shows the F16 fighter with weapons. Overall evaluation of
F16 fighter jets can be sold everywhere in the world, there must be its unique place, just like the US military's expectations of it at the beginning, low price, suitable for large-scale deployment, high cost performance, its meaning to the United States except It has brought in a lot of income and formed a high-low combat system with F15 fighters. When the F15 was originally designed, it was claimed that no one pound of weight was used on the ground. This is also true. This design concept led to the F15 on the ground. The aspect is very weak, but it does not matter. The powerful versatility of the F16 makes up for this shortcoming of the US Air Force. The popularity of the
F16 fighter jet cannot be achieved by just relying on the seller's bragging rights. Its achievements in many wars have been recognized by various countries are the reason for its huge sales. However, the outstanding performance achieved in the F16 fighter jets in these years of service can certainly prove its excellence, but it is a bit wrong to be too much touted. It is in the 21st century. The air combat between major powers is almost close-range, and beyond visual range air combat. It has gradually achieved the mainstream. The F16 fighters' achievements in the war are either bullying and bullying the second-generation fighters, or they are the result of the early warning aircraft and other fighters cooperating in a group fight under the powerful war system. Its true record is rather limited. number.
can only get the most accurate evaluation by admiring a fighter with an objective attitude. After all, even if you blow it up and let it go against the fourth-generation aircraft, it will be beaten down, even if it is the same level of the Soviet system. The advantages of the fighter aircraft are also very limited. If the electronic pod is not installed, its electronic early warning capability is very weak, but the electronic pod can weigh more than 200 kilograms, not to mention the reduced bomb/fuel load, and the maneuverability is also great. influences.
The picture above shows an F16 fighter jet strolling with elephants in South Korea.
