A Block 70 F-16 Fighting Falcon in the Royal Bahraini Air Force lands at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in March 2023. The Block 70 is the newest and most advanced F-16 variant, and would be the basis for a modernized F-16G. (US Air Force/412th Test Wing Public Affairs)

Does the US Air Force Want a Modernized F-16 Fighting Falcon?

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As the Air Force has aggressively retired older aircraft to cut costs, it is facing a growing capability gap. One possible solution is a new tranche of F-16s.

The United States Air Force received its final new F-16 Fighting Falcon on March 18, 2005. The fighter flew from the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas, to Shaw Air Force Base (AFB), South Carolina, with Brigadier General Jeff Riemer at the controls. The delivery marked the end of a production run that had started in 1978, with more than 2,200 F-16s built for the US Air Force over nearly three decades.

In early 2021, as the US military was facing delays with the F-35 Lightning II, the Air Force considered purchasing new Fighting Falcons to replace the aging F-16s now in service. Even as the United States Air Force hasn’t received any single-engine multirole combat aircraft since 2005, Lockheed Martin continues to produce the fighter for other nations around the world, and it has a robust production line in the United States and relatively low ongoing costs.

That explains why the aerospace giant, which was eliminated from the US Navy’s F/A-XX program and lost the contract award for........

© The National Interest