F-16E/F First Flight

Released on Saturday, December 06, 2003

The Lockheed-Martin corporation announced that the latest F-16 variant, the F-16 Block 60 also known as the F-16E/F, successfully completed its first flight at Lockheed-Martin facilities in Fort Worth, Texas.

The F-16 Block 60 which performed the first flight was a single-engine, twin-seater F-16F Fighting Falcon multi-role aircraft. This aircraft is the first production of 80 Block 60 F-16 aircraft ordered by the United Arab Emirates in early 2000. The last designation change was introduced in 1984 with the F-16C/D.

The Lockheed-Martin F-16E/F chief test pilot Steve Barter carried out the first flight during about 50 minutes. Onboard avionics and aircraft handling characteristics were evaluated.

The F-16E/F multirole aircraft has an all new cockpit with all digital instruments and three 5x7-inch color displays. It is powered by a 32,500-lb General Electric F110-GE-132 engine. An advanced Electronic Warfare System (EW), the AN/APG-80 agile beam radar, and an integrated FLIR targeting system (IFTS) had been provided by Northrop-Grumman for better combat performance.