“Part of the QF-16’s mission is to carry airborne radar jamming pods. We flew F-35s with them to preliminarily evaluate the F-35 against those jamming pods,” Matt Feringa, F-35 JOTT senior tactical systems analyst
Three QF-16 jets deployed to Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) recently to aid the F-35 Joint Operational Test Team (JOTT) with test planning.
As told by Kenji Thuloweit, 412th Test Wing Public Affairs, in the article QF-16s help F-35 JOTT plan for future testing, the QF-16 is a full-scale aerial target that has been modified to be flown with a pilot in the cockpit for training and also without a pilot as a target for live missile testing. These aircraft belong to 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron (ATS) from Tyndall AFB, Florida, and Holloman AFB, New Mexico.
According to the 82nd ATRS, the QF-16 is a fourth-generation fighter that maintains all inherent capabilities of the baseline F-16 Fighting Falcon including supersonic flight and 9-G maneuverability.
Thanks to these capabilities the QF-16 is able to help test fifth-generation fighters like the F-35 Lightning II against aerial adversaries and targets.
“We’re preparing for initial operational test and evaluation that starts next year,” explained Matt Feringa, F-35 JOTT senior tactical systems analyst. “Part of the QF-16’s mission is to carry airborne radar jamming pods. We flew F-35s with them as part of our test design development and to preliminarily evaluate the F-35 against those jamming pods.”
The JOTT at Edwards is part of a joint enterprise that conducts operational tests and evaluations of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The unit in fact not only consists of all U.S. services that will operate the different F-35 variants but coalition partners such as the U.K. and the Netherlands who will also operate the JSF.
The QF-16s stayed at Edwards for two weeks and provided good data that allowed JOTT to move ahead with their test plans. For the JOTT test purposes, the QF-16s were flown by pilots from the 82nd ATRS.
The QF-16 allows customers to test weapons systems in real-world scenarios before reaching the battlefield. Initial operational capability (IOC) for the QF-16 full-scale aerial target was declared on Sep. 23, 2016. The 82nd ATRS operates the only full-scale aerial target capability in the Defense Department.
The QF-16 replaced the QF-4 Aerial Targets, which were converted F-4 Phantoms. The QF-4 flew its last unmanned mission on Aug. 17, 2016, at Holloman AFB and was officially retired in December.
Photo by Chris Higgins / U.S. Air Force