If you’ve seen an F-16 fighter jet in flight, you’ve seen nothing yet – this afterburner takeoff is so powerful it’s like nothing you’ve seen before.
These aircraft are on a practice air defense scramble mission at March Air Reserve Base in California, US.
And, yes, it’s carrying live weapons.
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It was designed as a low-cost, lightweight fighter that could outmaneuver its rivals.
What eventually became known as the F-16 took its first flight 50 years ago in January 1974.
Despite its age, the F-16 remains relevant with its good looks as well as modernized radar, electronic warfare upgrades, and cockpit displays.
And the video above, posted to YouTube by Skyes9, taken back in 2017, shows what it can really do.
The air defense scramble mission might just be a practice, but the speed and heat coming out of the back during the afterburner takeoff is very real.
According to its creator, Lockheed Martin, the craft is: “Ready then, ready now, ahead of ready for what’s to come”.
The latest iteration, Block 70/72 was introduced in 2017.
Its 5th Generation advanced fighter radar capabilities deliver “greater situational awareness, flexibility and quicker all-weather targeting” per Lockheed Martin.
That “provides pilots with unprecedented target area detail and digital map displays that can be tailored with slew and zoom features”.
It boasts a new, high resolution Center Pedestal Display (CPD), providing critical tactical imagery to pilots and allowing them to take full advantage of an active electronically scanned array (AESA) and targeting pod data.
Want more? Check out this speed demon as the new F-15 Eagle soars near Mach 3.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg as the US Air Force is now testing AI in its fighter jets.
Back to the F-16 and Lockheed Martin’s Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS), introduced in 2014, was purpose-built to prevent deadly crashes and has already saved the lives of multiple pilots.
The F-16 fighter jet is one of the most versatile multirole fighters ever, with more than 3,300 carriage and release configurations certified for greater than 180 weapon and store types.
It has a structural life to 12,000 hours, 50 percent greater than the previous F-16 aircraft.
Per Lockheed Martin, they are confident that the “F-16 fleet can operate to 2060 and beyond”.
On the subject of the future of military aircraft, China claim to have developed wild new plasma tech that can make aircraft invisible.
