comparing aircraft is maximum gross takeoff weight.
A lightweight fighter might not have all the 'bells and whistles' that engineers can think up, but a no-frills aircraft is better than no aircraft at all; and for the cost of one heavyweight fighter you might buy two no-frills aircraft that together should be able to outfly and outfight one heavy one. This became the central dogma of the 'Lightweight Fighter Mafia,' a group of Air Force and Pentagon officials gathered around the charismatic John Boyd, an Air Force colonel who codified the original concept of energy maneuvering (using power and speed in the vertical dimension to outmaneuver another aircraft) and had been a prime mover in the F-15 program office. During the Vietnam War, lightweight enemy aircraft like the MiG-17 and MiG-21 were often able to outmaneuver and kill heavy multi-role U.S. fighters like the F-4 Phantom and F-105, despite the Americans' advantages of speed, sensors, and weaponry. Though these losses were in great part caused by the restrictive ROE that were set by politicians, the Air Force was determined to stop that from happening again. Thus, while the new USAF lightweight fighter might not have ultra-long range or super-sophisticated electronics, it would for damn sure be more agile than any MiG flying.
The lightweight fighter competition came down to a flyoff between two excellent designs, the General Dynamics Model 401, and the Northrop YF-17; and in February 1974, General Dynamics's entry won. The design was a slightly enlarged Model 401, and the prototype was designated YF-16. The competing twin-engined YF-17 ultimately became the basis for the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.
One key design element of the Model 401 was accepting the risk of only one engine — you have to have a lot of confidence in that engine. At the same time, one reason the YF-16 was the winner against the Northrop entry was the matter of that single engine. GD made the decision early to use the same Pratt & Whitney F100-series engine that was on the F-15 Eagle, thus providing a great deal of risk reduction and savings for the Air Force. Risk reduction because it was using an already proven engine design that was in USAF service, and savings because of the economies of greater production numbers and a wider user base.
The first production F-16, officially named the 'Fighting Falcon,' was delivered to the Air Force in August 1978, and the first full wing, the 388th TFW at Hill AFB, Utah, became operational in October 1980. Meanwhile, by eliminating some 17 % of the internal fuel capacity, General Dynamics was able to squeeze in a second seat under an enlarged canopy, creating the F-16B operational trainer (later replaced by the more advanced F-16D). The U.S. Air Force eventually ordered some 121 F-16Bs, and 206 F-16Ds.
One advantage of a small fighter is that you are a small target: hard to spot visually and on radar, as well as hard to hit. The blended wing-body of the F-16 helps to reduce its radar cross section, but the gaping air intake, large vertical tail fin, and the need to carry weapons and pods externally mean that it is by no means a stealth aircraft. About 95 % of the structure is made up of conventional aircraft aluminum alloys in order to simplify manufacturing and keep costs down. Production of the F-16A and — B models for the USAF ended in 1985, when the F-16C/D models began to roll off the mile-long assembly line at Fort Worth, Texas. In addition to the letters that designate major F-16 variants (like the F-16C), there are 'Block' numbers that describe particular production batches. The current version (since October 1991) is the Block 50/52. In 1994, General Dynamics sold its Ft. Worth, Texas, aircraft factory to Lockheed, which will continue to produce the F-16 through at least 1999. When production ends, over four thousand F-16s will have been delivered.
One reason the F-16 has been so successful is its fly-by-wire flight-control system. On most aircraft, when you move the stick or rudder pedals, you are working mechanical linkages tied to a series of hydraulic actuators that move the control surfaces of the wings and tail. This is similar to the brakes on a car. When you hit the brake pedal, you are not directly applying pressure to the wheels; you are opening a hydraulic valve (the master cylinder) that allows stored mechanical energy to apply a lot more force to the brake pads than your foot could ever deliver. Just as the feel of the brake pedal, when integrated with the perception of deceleration (or the lack of it), conveys important information to a driver, the feel of the control stick provides vital feedback to the pilot. In fly-by-wire the mechanical linkages in the flight-control system are replaced with a tightly integrated set of electro-mechanical force sensors and computer software that translates the pilot's movement of the stick into precisely regulated electronic commands. These are sent over a quad-redundant (i.e., four-channel) data bus to the hydraulic actuators that move the control surfaces, causing the plane to pitch, roll, or yaw as desired. The flight computer software regulates all this without allowing dangerous or excessive excursions that might cause the plane to 'depart controlled flight.' All F-16A/B aircraft and F-16C/Ds before Block 40 had an analog flight-control system; subsequent aircraft have an improved digital system.
One major benefit of fly-by-wire is weight reduction, since mechanical cables and pulleys can now be replaced by slim electrical signal lines, and even fiber-optical cable ('fly-by-light') in newer systems. Another benefit has been a dream of aircraft designers ever since the Wrights flew their first airplanes — the creation of aerodynamically unstable aircraft. Prior to fly-by-wire systems, all aircraft were designed to be neutrally stable or balanced in the air, so that only a small trimming was required to keep it flying. While this is fine for an airliner or transport aircraft, it is not necessarily what is desired for a combat aircraft like a fighter. Ideally, you want a fighter to be quick and agile — right on the edge of disaster — so that it can react more quickly than other aircraft. With the coming of fly-by-wire control systems, aircraft designers can actually make an aircraft so dynamically unstable that a human being cannot even fly it. The flight software of the system can make adjustments to the attitude and trim of an unstable aircraft many times a second, thus rendering it stable through sheer quickness on the part of the computer.
The unique characteristics of the fly-by-wire flight-control system allowed the General Dynamics engineers to do a number of new things to the cockpit of the F-16. The ACES II ejection seat, for example, is reclined at an angle of 30deg, since this helps to reduce the frontal cross section of the aircraft, which cuts drag and is also more comfortable, especially when pulling high-G maneuvers. The single-piece bubble canopy provides better all-around visibility than any modern fighter aircraft in the world. Remember that most planes shot down in combat never see their opponent sneaking up from behind or below. The lack of normal hydraulic runs means that the control stick can be mounted on the right side of the cockpit, instead of the usual position between the pilot's legs, which eases the strain on the pilot during maneuvers. Mounted on the right armrest, the 'side stick' controller is a force-sensing device which requires only light pressure to execute large and rapid maneuvers.
The throttle column is on the left armrest, and both it and the side stick are studded with the same kind of HOTAS radar, weapon, and communications switches as the F-15, and are optimized for operations in high-G maneuvers. In front of the pilot is a small but busy control panel, with the HUD mounted on top, the display for the RWR to its left, and the IDM display (called a Data Entry Display) on the right. Below this is a center pedestal that runs between the pilot's legs. It contains most of the analog flight instruments (artificial horizon, airspeed indicator, etc.), the data keypad (called an Integrated Control Panel), and a pair of MFDs, one on either side of the pedestal.
You can hang a lot of weaponry — up to ten tons of it — on an F-16, if you're willing to pay the costs. These include increased drag, which translates into decreased range, endurance, speed, and agility. However, even when
