Prior to the production of America’s world-famous F-16 fighter jet, a prototype was designed by General Dynamics and built-in 1974, called the YF-16. This initial prototype was flown as part of the Air Force’s lightweight fighter program, which aimed to develop a new combat aircraft that could be used for air superiority. The design of the YF-16 proved promising when it was tested against other competing prototypes.
The F-16 and the F-15 were specifically designed to complement each other, not replace one another. The F-16 was meant to be a lighter, more maneuverable aircraft. This is why it’s still in use today: miscellaneous tasks that don’t require the heavy firepower of an F-15 can be easily accomplished by an F-16. This allows the Air Force to use the fuel and ammo for their bigger fighter jet when it’s needed most.
The Air Force had been keeping an eye on how the Vietnam War was progressing (the war began in 1956) and felt that there was a need for a lighter fighter jet with less of a reliance on missiles than previous models. So, rather than using heavier engines from existing aircraft, they opted for a new engine design built by Pratt & Whitney called the General Electric J79 engine (which would later be used for some versions of the F-101 Voodoo).
Good airplanes are designed with a good pilot in mind. They must be able to take hits, take evasive maneuvers, and get the pilot home safely. Some planes have been known to kill their pilots through the stress of combat. The F-16 is not one of these planes—it was built to fly under those circumstances. The pilot is the heart of the F-16. Everything else is just hardware.
The pilot sits at the front of the plane and controls it directly: steering by turning a stick with his hand, controlling speed and altitude with foot pedals, adjusting pitch and roll (up/down and side-to-side) with his arms on mechanical links that tilt the wings accordingly. There are one or two engines behind him pushing him forward at tremendous speeds; there are weapons loaded onto hardpoints on wingtips for blowing things up, but none of that matters if he can’t control it all from his seat in the cockpit—a space designed for comfort as well as functionality because a comfortable pilot makes better decisions faster than an uncomfortable one does in those harried moments when seconds count.
The F-16’s ease of flight is the result of its lightweight, aerodynamic design, and powerful engine. The aircraft has a larger wing area than other fighters and a high thrust-to-weight ratio. All these factors allow for greater maneuverability in the air.
One pilot recounted his first solo flight in an F-16: “I was five miles from the runway, vertical at 35,000 feet. I pulled the stick back, rolled it to inverted, and went straight up into a loop. It was dead calm in there… You see this earth looping down below you, and your body falling straight down behind it.”
For those who have flown other aircraft, the F-16 is quite a different animal. The engine is at the center of the aircraft, and everything from avionics to fuel tanks is arranged in relation to it. In fact, everything about the plane is built around that one component. As Air Force pilots put it, “the engine is the heart and soul” of the plane.
In short: the engine is what makes or breaks the plane—it’s both its most important feature and its most expensive.
The F-16’s airframe is made of several different materials. The primary material is an aluminum alloy that has been reinforced with titanium in high-stress areas. Steel is also used in certain parts of the structure, but due to its weight, it is only used where absolutely necessary for strength reasons. An increasing amount of graphite-epoxy composites are being added to the airframe as well, reducing even further the amount of metal needed. A foam core epoxy sandwich construction method (similar to what’s used on modern sailboats and other high-performance vehicles) makes up most of the non-metal portions of the aircraft, such as much of the wings and fuselage.
If you want to turn a plane, then you need to use some control surfaces. These are the moving parts of an aircraft that help it change direction. On the wings, there are flaps, on the tail, there’s a rudder and elevator. An F-16 uses a hydraulic system to move these control surfaces and direct the aircraft. What’s a hydraulic system? It’s an oil-based system that’s powered by a pump and typically used for things like braking systems in vehicles and lifting heavy loads in industrial settings.
Why does the F-16 use hydraulics instead of electronics?
Hydraulics are simple and reliable, which is important when you’re flying at hundreds or thousands of miles per hour! The only downside is that they can be heavy (but it’s worth it).
The F-16 has a gun, bombs, missiles, and rockets. It can carry a maximum of 7,000 pounds (3,175 kilograms) of weapons. The aircraft’s primary weapon is the 25mm GAU-12/U Equalizer eight-barrel Gatling gun with 500 rounds of ammunition. For targeting enemy aircraft or ground targets, the F-16 can carry air-to-air missiles, such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missile and the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM). Additionally, the aircraft can carry a variety of air-to-surface missiles such as AGM/GBU Maverick missiles for attacking tanks and armored vehicles and AGM/GBU anti-ship weapons for attacking ships. If necessary, an F16 can also be equipped with nuclear bombs.
Every F-16 carries a 20mm rotary cannon, with 500 rounds of ammunition, generally used in combat against enemy aircraft. Besides that, the F-16 has bays for carrying missiles, bombs, and rockets. If your mission requires stealth, those weapons can be stored internally. The bays rotate into the body of the plane during a flight to make the craft as aerodynamic as possible. For missions that don’t require stealth, such as attacking ground targets or supporting other aircraft in a dogfight scenario (such as fending off enemy fighters while other planes execute their respective missions), you can carry additional weapons externally at all times by mounting them to pylons under the wings and fuselage.
The cockpit has three multi-function displays, which the pilot uses to communicate with the aircraft’s systems and weapons, navigate, and see what’s happening outside of the cockpit through video cameras mounted on the exterior of the plane. It also has a large head-up display (HUD) projected in front of it that shows critical information without forcing pilots to take their eyes off of what they’re doing or looking down at the controls. This is important since there are often so many things happening that a pilot does not want to take his eyes off his target for more than a second.
In conclusion, the F-16 has proven itself to be a workhorse aircraft for many nations other than just the United States. If there is one thing we can learn from its history, it’s that the design has successfully adapted to the needs of its operators, and it has made each nation more effective in its operations. In light of this revelation, we should look forward to seeing how this aircraft will continue to adapt to changes in military aviation and foreign policy around the globe.
