US Vietnam War experience showed the need for air superiority fighters and better air-to-air training for fighter pilots. Main article: Lightweight Fighter program As of 2015, it was the world's most numerous fixed-wing aircraft in military service. The F-16 has also been procured to serve in the air forces of 25 other nations. Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team, the US Combat Air Command F-16 Viper Demonstration Team, and as an adversary/aggressor aircraft by the United States Navy. Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, and Air National Guard units, the aircraft is also used by the U.S. The F-16 has an internal M61 Vulcan cannon and 11 hardpoints. The Fighting Falcon's key features include a frameless bubble canopy for good visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while maneuvering, an ejection seat reclined 30 degrees from vertical to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot, and the first use of a relaxed static stability/ fly-by-wire flight control system that helps to make it an agile aircraft. In 1993, General Dynamics sold its aircraft manufacturing business to the Lockheed Corporation, which in turn became part of Lockheed Martin after a 1995 merger with Martin Marietta. Air Force, improved versions are being built for export customers. Although no longer being purchased by the U.S. Over 4,600 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1976. Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. This aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida.The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). The F/A-18 made its first flight on 18 November 1978 in a test flight and finely joined combat in 1980. It was located on the center line of the airplane, in the nose, right next to the radar. Although it is capable of carrying up to 17,000 pounds of ordnance, the F/A-18A was designed with only one internal weapon, a six barrel 20mm Vulcan cannon. Fifty percent of the structural weight is aluminum, sixteen percent is steel, thirteen percent is titanium, and although only nine percent of the weight is advanced graphite/epoxy, it covers forty percent of the surface areas. The system provides for automatic shut down of any failed branch. Hydraulic fluid for the F/A-18 is non-flammable and it circulates through two completely separated systems, each of which has two independent branches. There are no fuel tanks between or around the engines and no electrical power is needed to transfer or feed fuel to the engines. The wing tanks have foam and there is foam all fuselage voids. On-board fire extinguishers allow the pilot to put out fires quickly. The F/A also incorporated self-start capability with a turbine-driven auxiliary power unit (APU), which drives the air turbine starter on the airframe mounted accessory drive (AMAD) and, through a power take-off shaft, cranks the engine. The Hornet proved its value during operation Desert Storm when a pair of VFA-81 sunliners F/A-18Cs, each loaded with four MK 84 2,000 pound bombs, two AIM-9 sidewinders and two AIM-7 sparrow engaged and shot down a pair of MIG-21s while in route to targets in Iraq.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |