A Closer Look At The F-16 Fighting Falcon's Impressive Maneuverability (2024)

The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed for the United States Air Force (USAF). Since first entering service nearly 46 years ago on August 17, 1978, the F-16 has excelled as a multirole fighter aircraft.

Highly maneuverable and capable of air-to-air combat and ground attack, the F-16 is now being retired in favor of fifth-generation fighters like the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.

When the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon was being developed in the late 1960s, the emphasis was on top speed and a high service ceiling.

The USAF needed a dogfight-winning fighter jet

Despite this, the Korean War (1950 to 1953) showed that the USAF needed a highly maneuverable air-to-air fighter that could beat an adversary in a dogfight. With this in mind, fighter tactics instructor Colonel John Boyd partnered with mathematician Thomas Christie to design a small light jet fighter that could maneuver with the minimum amount of energy loss. During the Korean War, Boyd was an F-86 Sabre pilot and knew the type of aircraft needed for a dogfight.

Photo: USAF

Based on Boyd's thoughts and those of other like-minded designers, they developed an aircraft with an increased thrust-to-weight ratio. Based on their ideas for a new multirole fighter jet in 1969, the United States Department of Defense agreed to fund General Dynamics and Northrop to build a plane based on the design team's concept.

The Air Force was fixated with speed

The USAF was fixated on a high-speed, high-altitude fighter because it wanted a plane that could counter the Soviet Union's Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25. To be capable of flinging at Mach 2.8, designers had to replace aluminum with stainless steel. This made the aircraft heavier and required a larger wing to operate at higher altitudes. The finished result became the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle.

When the Air Force heard that the Department of Defense was working on a less expensive single-engine jet fighter, it opposed it as it perceived it as a threat to the F-15 program. Undeterred by Air Force concerns about using classified information on air-to-air combat, General Dynamics focused on aircraft performance within a speed envelope in which dogfights were more likely to occur.

The F-16 costs half the price of an F-15 Eagle

Initially called the YF-16, the prototype aircraft was rolled out of the General Dynamics Fort Worth, Texas, factory on December 13, 1973. The aircraft made its maiden flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California on February 2, 1974.

While unable to match the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle's speed and rate of climb, the F-16 could turn and outmaneuver better than any other combat aircraft for roughly half the price it cost to build the F-15.

What set the F-16 apart from other fighter jets was its fly-by-wire controls that passed control duties to a computer, minimizing the energy needed to make g-force maneuvers.

The first production F-16 entered service with the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Hill Air Force Base in Utah on October 1, 1980. At the time of its introduction, the F-16 was the first ever fighter that could pull 9-g maneuvers. Innovations in the F-16 included:

• A fly-bye-wire control system
• A frameless bubble canopy for greater visibility
• A side-mounted control stick rather than a center stick found on other fighters
• A reclined seat to reduce the stresses of g-force

F-16 operational history

The F-16 was used in combat for the first time by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) on April 28, 1981, when it shot down a Syrian Mi-8 helicopter. Israel used its F-16s again on June 7, 1981, to destroy an under-construction Iraqi nuclear reactor to prevent Saddam Hussein from developing nuclear weapons. During the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Israeli Air Force F-16s are credited with shooting down 44 Syrian aircraft during air-to-air combat.

Since then, several nations have used the F-16 for combat missions. While it remains the jet fighter of choice for many countries, NATO is retiring the F-16 in favor of fifth-generation aircraft like the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.

Over the years, the United States has sold the F-16 to 25 other nations, making it the most common fixed-wing fighter jet, with around 2,145 still in service.

NATO countries are giving F-16s to Ukraine

After months of asking for more weapons to defend itself against Russian aggressors, the West finally agreed to give Ukraine some of its older F-16s and to train Ukrainian pilots to fly them. While getting hold of the F-16 will aid Ukraine in its fight with Russia, it is crucial to know what the F-16 can and cannot do.

Photo: USAF

Currently, the Ukraine Air Force operates a fleet of old Soviet MiG-29s and Su-27s that do not have advanced avionics like the Russian planes it is fighting. While the arrival of the F-16s will certainly provide Ukraine with better air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities, it will not necessarily help them defeat Russia.

A common mistake Western military experts make is to assume that Russia does not have air superiority. Unlike the Western military, where the first thing you do is gain air superiority, the Russians fight differently.

Russia does not use airpower to secure the skies but as an extension of its ground forces. The Russians knew that they could not match NATO's ariel power, so they adopted this strategy instead.

Photo: USAF

Mastering the F-16 usually takes many months and years of experience, so we will have to wait and see how Ukraine uses the now nearly 46-year-old jet.

Specifications and general characteristics of the F-16 Fighting Falcon

Perfomance