Back in the day, F-16 fighters were rolled out of the mammoth Air Force Plant No. 4 in Fort Worth, Texas, by the dozens and dozens per year. Today, that production facility is fully engaged in manufacturing the next-generation F-35, so the one-time leading lightweight fighter of the US Air Force (USAF) has seen its production move to a much smaller facility in Greenville, South Carolina.
But with the F-35 now the single-engine fighter of choice, the USAF is no longer procuring the F-16 for its own use. The Greenville production line is, therefore, a “for export only” facility.
At this factory, the staff is manufacturing the aircraft for a bevy of foreign customers who are not in a position to acquire the F-35. However, they would still like to have a US-made fighter aircraft equipped with some of the advanced capabilities of the F-35.
A recent profile of the Greenville plant describes how the factory is the “Global Home of the F-16,” as the state’s governor declared. The facility has created hundreds of jobs and increased demand for many other workers not engaged with the F-16 line but who work for supply-chain firms that produce parts for the aircraft.
It is estimated that the Greenville site adds $1.3 billion to the local economy every year. The aircraft is so important to the business community that South Carolina created a new state holiday, “F-16 Fighting Falcon Day,” celebrated on 30 January.
Why Do People Want This Greenville-Made F-16V?
The aircraft being built in Greenville is, as they say, “not your grandfather’s F-16.” This model is the very latest and modernized variant of the fighter, designated the F-16V or sometimes referred to as the F-16 Block 70/72. What makes the aircraft significantly more advanced than the previous Block models is the inclusion of current-generation onboard systems.
The F-16V’s great strength is that it is more interoperable with the 5th-generation fighters operated by the USAF, like the F-22, and with the F-35s flown by the US and its allies. The AN/APG-83 Active Electronically-Scanning Array (AESA) radar is key to that compatibility. Produced by the same firm, Northrop Grumman, that builds the F-35’s AN/APG-81 radar set, this major subsystem makes joint operations between the two aircraft possible.
One of the countries that decided to purchase the F-16V was Slovakia, a former Soviet bloc nation and now a NATO member. With their need to divest themselves of the Mikoyan MiG-29s that Moscow had provided during the Cold War, the Slovaks turned down offers from European defense firms to sign a contract with the US firm Lockheed Martin (LM) for this latest-model F-16.
It was not just the fact that the US aircraft offered so many cutting-edge technologies. It was also the perceived advantage of creating closer relations with Washington. Radovan Javorčík, the Slovak ambassador to the US, said that when his nation bought 14 of the aircraft in 2018, it was more than just a defense procurement decision.
Because the service life of a new fighter can stretch on for decades, “with these machines, you don’t just buy a flying piece of metal,” he said. “We were buying a partnership with the United States for 25 or 30 or 40 years.”
Strained Relations
The Greenville plant currently has a production backlog of orders for 115 F-16V models. In addition to Slovakia, customer nations that have placed orders include Bulgaria, Bahrain, the Republic of China, Jordan, and Morocco.
Concern is being expressed by those who work to manufacture the F-16V and defense and foreign affairs analysts who are examining the fallout from recent US foreign policy decisions. They are afraid some nations may decide to cancel previously placed orders for US military hardware if they now decide that Washington is an unreliable ally.
“A critical component of the American defense industrial base, the F-16 program supports more than 46,000 domestic jobs,” LM said in a statement, “including about 1,800 in Greenville.”
“Right now,” said a former US military intelligence officer who spoke to me, “the US needs an advanced fighter with 5th-generation hardware on board a 4th-generation airframe—like the F-16V.
“It is affordable for those nations that are not flush with enough cash to buy an F-35. It is also releasable to those nations where concerns about the stealth technology of the F-35 ‘leaking’ to other nations is not an issue. We need to keep this aircraft in production for many national security concerns.”
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
