F-16 Archives

Aerospace & Defense

In 1987 Japan Agreed to Build a Licensed Version of the American F-16 Fighting Falcon Instead of Its Own Fighter. More Than 95 Percent of the Engineering Drawings Were Changed, and the Finished Mitsubishi F-2 Cost About $127,000,000 Each Against $30,000,000 for an F-16.

On March 11, 2011, the tsunami flooded Matsushima Air Base and submerged 18 F-2Bs in salt water. Five were scrapped. Japan repaired the other...

Steve Balestrieri1 day ago

Aerospace & Defense

Northrop Spent About $1,200,000,000 of Its Own Money on the F-20 Tigershark and Sold 0 Aircraft. The F-5 It Was Built to Replace Has Been Flying for More Than 60 Years.

The F-5E was never meant to be the best fighter available. It was built to be credible, affordable and easy to keep in the...

Steve Balestrieri2 days ago

Aerospace & Defense

Northrop Spent More Than $750,000,000 of Its Own Money on the F-20 Tigershark Without a Dollar of Pentagon Funding. It Sold 0 Aircraft and Wrote Off About $1,200,000,000.

Northrop funded the F-20 Tigershark itself — more than $750,000,000 with no Pentagon research money. The aircraft out-turned the F-16 at 13.2 degrees per...

Steve Balestrieri2 days ago

Aerospace & Defense

‘We Are Not Effectively Allowed to Do Much at All With the Airplane’: A Ukrainian Defense Executive on the F-16, and Why Ukraine’s Industry Would Rather Have Sweden’s JAS 39 Gripen

Ukraine flies 2 Western fighters today, the F-16 and the Mirage 2000, with Gripens and Rafales to follow. At the Kielce arms show, Ukrainian...

Reuben Johnson3 days ago

Aerospace & Defense

Turkey Was Thrown Out of the F-35 Program in 2019 and Built Its Own Fifth-Generation Fighter. The Kaan Flies on 2 American General Electric F110 Engines Producing Roughly 29,000 Pounds of Thrust Each.

Turkey was removed from the F-35 program in 2019 after buying the Russian S-400, and responded by accelerating its own fifth-generation fighter. The TAI...

Harrison Kass3 days ago

Maj. Kristin “BEO” Wolfe demonstrates the capabilities of the F-35A Lighting II, a single seat, single engine, all-weather stealth multirole fighter aircraft, during a practice flight with the F-35 Demonstration Team at Hill Air Force Base, Utah Feb. 6, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jack Rodgers)

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force F-35 Lightning II Went 20 to 1 Against Aggressor F-16s at Red Flag 2017. In Stealth Configuration It Carries Only 4 AMRAAM Missiles, and the F-16 Pilots Worked That Out.

The F-35 Lightning II reportedly finished Red Flag 2017 with a 20:1 kill ratio, killing aggressor F-16s that never knew they had been seen....

Harrison Kass4 days ago

F-16XL fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

F-16XL Fighter Had 27 Hardpoints and Could Carry Twice the Payload of a Standard F-16 But Lost the Competition to the F-15E

General Dynamics took the lightweight F-16, gave it a cranked-arrow delta wing with 120 percent more area, raised the hardpoint count from 9 to...

Harrison Kass5 days ago

Aerospace & Defense

America Spent the Summer Insulting Canada. Canada Answered by Buying Australian Radar and Swedish Aircraft — and Both Purchases Feed NORAD.

Read the last three months as a divorce and you will get Canada wrong. Ottawa is cutting its dependence on American defense manufacturers and...

Andrew LathamSeptember 4, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The Air Force Selected 50-Year-Old F-16 Fighting Falcon Over The F-35 To Test Autonomous Fighter Flight

The F-16 was not selected by accident. It is a mature aircraft with a robust industrial base, highly maneuverable thanks to fly-by-wire controls, and...

Caleb LarsonAugust 27, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

A Chinese J-10CE Fighter Went Head-to-Head With a Eurofighter Typhoon for the First Time in History, and It Happened Over Qatar

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV has confirmed what circulated for months as rumour: J-10CE fighters posted a perfect 9-0 record against Qatari Eurofighter Typhoons during...

Steve BalestrieriAugust 27, 2026

19FortyFive

All posts tagged "F-16"

Aerospace & Defense

In 1987 Japan Agreed to Build a Licensed Version of the American F-16 Fighting Falcon Instead of Its Own Fighter. More Than 95 Percent of the Engineering Drawings Were Changed, and the Finished Mitsubishi F-2 Cost About $127,000,000 Each Against $30,000,000 for an F-16.

Aerospace & Defense

Northrop Spent About $1,200,000,000 of Its Own Money on the F-20 Tigershark and Sold 0 Aircraft. The F-5 It Was Built to Replace Has Been Flying for More Than 60 Years.

Aerospace & Defense

Northrop Spent More Than $750,000,000 of Its Own Money on the F-20 Tigershark Without a Dollar of Pentagon Funding. It Sold 0 Aircraft and Wrote Off About $1,200,000,000.

Aerospace & Defense

‘We Are Not Effectively Allowed to Do Much at All With the Airplane’: A Ukrainian Defense Executive on the F-16, and Why Ukraine’s Industry Would Rather Have Sweden’s JAS 39 Gripen

Aerospace & Defense

Turkey Was Thrown Out of the F-35 Program in 2019 and Built Its Own Fifth-Generation Fighter. The Kaan Flies on 2 American General Electric F110 Engines Producing Roughly 29,000 Pounds of Thrust Each.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force F-35 Lightning II Went 20 to 1 Against Aggressor F-16s at Red Flag 2017. In Stealth Configuration It Carries Only 4 AMRAAM Missiles, and the F-16 Pilots Worked That Out.

Aerospace & Defense

F-16XL Fighter Had 27 Hardpoints and Could Carry Twice the Payload of a Standard F-16 But Lost the Competition to the F-15E

Aerospace & Defense

America Spent the Summer Insulting Canada. Canada Answered by Buying Australian Radar and Swedish Aircraft — and Both Purchases Feed NORAD.

Aerospace & Defense

The Air Force Selected 50-Year-Old F-16 Fighting Falcon Over The F-35 To Test Autonomous Fighter Flight

Aerospace & Defense

A Chinese J-10CE Fighter Went Head-to-Head With a Eurofighter Typhoon for the First Time in History, and It Happened Over Qatar

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