Article Summary: The Israeli Air Force’s F-16I Sufa is a highly customized variant of the F-16, tailored for Israel’s specific defense needs. Enhancements include advanced avionics, electronic warfare systems, and conformal fuel tanks, which increase range and weapons capacity while slightly reducing radar detectability.
Key Point # 1 – The F-16I Sufa also features an Elbit Systems Dash IV helmet-mounted display for targeting, improved navigation, and long-range infrared targeting sensors. Israel has continuously upgraded its F-16 fleet in partnership with domestic defense firms.
Key Point #2 – These modifications, combined with advanced weapons and radar systems, make the F-16I Sufa one of the most capable multi-role fighters in the region.
The F-16I Sufa: Israel’s Customized Powerhouse Fighter Jet
More than 24 countries fly the F-16 fighter jet. It is a revered platform that has been upgraded, sustained, and customized by Lockheed Martin and other industry partners for a wide range of international customers.
The Israeli Air Force flies its own variant of the aircraft tailored specifically to Israel’s defense requirements.
As is the case with the Israeli F-35I Adir, the IAF’s F-16I is modified with a number of specific technological systems.
Other upgraded F-16 variants include the F-16V, the F-21 built for India, and the United States’ own upgraded F-16s.
The U.S. Air Force improves the F-16 in line with the Service Life Extension Program, a series of wide-ranging adaptations designed to add thousands of flight hours to the aircraft’s service life.
Improvements include new avionics, weapons interfaces, computing, electronic warfare (EW) capabilities, and even integration of some F-35 technologies such as Active Electronically Scanned Array radar.
Israel’s F-16I Sufa
What about the Israeli variant? Israel is conscious of its specific regional threats and is quite adept at integrating its own technical systems. Air Force Technology magazine details a wide-ranging series of modifications to the F-16I Sufa variant. These include electronics, EW, sensing capabilities, and avionics, but one of the most significant adaptations is the variant’s conformal fuel tanks.
Conformal fuel tanks were built into the F/A-18 by the U.S. Navy years ago as an experimental effort. They are smoothly aligned with the fuselage for the purpose of adding fuel and extending mission dwell time.
Equipped with large, fuel-carrying structures that are blended into the airframe, an Israeli F-16I Sufa can perform longer missions and position itself to adjust to new targets as they become available.
Conformal tanks present a smooth, rounded, blended shape to lower the radar cross-section of the aircraft.
Certainly an F-16 would not be considered stealthy, but this modification decreases the F-16I’s detectability to some extent by smoothing over some of the sharp edges and external contours of the aircraft that are likely to generate a return signal to ground-based radar.
The conformal fuel tanks increase the weapons capacity of the F-16, as explained by Air Force Technology:
“The fitting of conformal tanks makes the two wing inner store stations normally used for external tanks (stations 6 and 4, each rated at 4,500lb capacity) available for weapon carriage, doubling the aircraft’s air-to-ground weapons capacity,” the magazine explains.
The Israeli acquisition of F-16s goes all the way back to 2001, but the Israeli Air Force works with domestic industrial partners such as Elbit Systems to keep upgrading the platform.
Modifications are extensive and include the addition of an Elbit Systems-built Dash IV display that enables pilots to lock on to a target by simply looking at it.
The US F/A-18 and F-35 have similar technology.
Other modifications include digital moving maps, enhanced navigational systems, and a third-generation Forward Looking Infrared sensor for long-range, high-resolution target imaging.
Not surprisingly, the F-16I Sufa fighter jet is also integrated with advanced radar, EW, and precision-guided short- and long-range missiles.
The F-16 Fighter: A Photo Collection
A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft sits parked on flight line at MacDill Air Force Base, Sept. 8, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Lauren Cobin).
Image of F-16 Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
An Air Force F-16 Viper taxis just a few hundred feet from the wall of fire at the Fort Worth Alliance Air Show, Oct. 28, 2017 at Fort Worth, Texas. (Courtesy photo by Air Force Viper Demo Team)
F-16XL. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
New Taiwan F-16V fighter jet. Image Credit: ROC government.
F-16XL fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
A Belgian F-16 Fighting Falcon receives fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker, assigned to the 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, while flying over Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Feb. 25, 2011. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. William Greer)
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Austin Daniel, an F-16 crew chief from the New Jersey Air National Guard’s 177th Fighter Wing, looks over his assigned aircraft prior to a training mission at Atlantic City Air National Guard Base, N.J., Dec. 17, 2014. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Matt Hecht/Released)
A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron flies over Southwest Asia, Feb. 24, 2021. U.S. Central Command maintains robust defensive capabilities to preserve security and stability throughout the region. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Bryan Guthrie)
About the Author: Kris Osborn
Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
