Posted on 11/09/2015 10:27:06 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the iconic F-16 jet fighter, just completed a two-year test that simulated a staggering 92 years of normal flying for one of the single-engine planes.
That’s a long time. And amazingly, the F-16 — a 1990s-vintage Block 50 version — held up just fine. “The airframe was then subjected to several maximum-load conditions to demonstrate that the airframe still had sufficient strength to operate within its full operational flight envelope,†Lockheed explained in a press release.
The point of the test was to provide data for Lockheed’s coming effort to rebuild 300 or so U.S. Air Force F-16s — Block 50s and earlier Block 40s — so they can keep flying at least into the 2030s. The Air Force is struggling to maintain its roughly 1,900-strong fleet of F-15s, F-16s, F-22 and A-10s while also buying new F-35s to replace the oldest F-16s, for starters.
At some point in the 2030s, according to Air Force plans, the fighter fleet will consist of just 180 or so F-22s and slightly more than 1,760 F-35s. It’s getting from here to there that’s tricky.
That’s because the F-35s are coming in dribs and drabs. In 2010, the Air Force wanted to buy 80 per year starting in 2015, but owing to deep budget cuts and the stealth fighter’s high price — currently around $100 million per copy — today the plan is to buy 80 per year starting in 2021.
Above — Lockheed Martin photo. At top — Air Force photo
So the newest of the Air Force’s 1,000 F-16s must stick around longer than anyone had expected. As built, Block 40 and 50 F-16s have an 8,000 flight-hour fatigue life. At normal usage of around 300 hours per year, that amounts to 24 years, which would compel the F-16s to retire … well, now.
So the Air Force is bumping these F-16s up to at least 12,000 hours. Hence the fatigue testing — and the surprising conclusion that, in theory, an F-16 could last as long as 92 years. “The successful completion of this phase of full-scale durability testing demonstrates that this aircraft was built to last,†Susan Ouzts, vice president of Lockheed’s F-16 program, said in the press release.
To be clear, there’s basically no chance an F-16 will need to remain in service nearly 100 years. Although, to be fair, the Air Force’s 1960s-vintage KC-135 tankers and B-52 bombers could be 80 years old by the time they retire.
Lemme know when you find someone who wants to do a 9g turn in a 90 year old airplane.
"Just not all at one time"
The design can be ninety years old but the frame, engine and avionics would be up to date.
“I thought you said you were open 24 hours.”
“Not in a row!”
“Lemme know when you find someone who wants to do a 9g turn in a 90 year old airplane.”
I just about did a 9g turn yesterday in my 58 year old 1957 Bel Air when I hit the drum brakes a bit hard.
There are still plenty of Model T’s out there that run but so what? The technology is totally obsolete. They would have absolutely no use in the modern battlefield, other than serving as targets.
They may have to last 90 years
Just swap the fossil-fuel based engine out for nuclear... be like submarines, much lighter than a sub, could stay up even more than 92 years.
While the fuel would last a long time, the bladder tanks would need emptying more frequently.
Why not? The BUFFs are still airborne.
so they get roughly 4 years of flying per gallon of fuel?
I don’t completely buy into that. Many modern military machines are lasting longer than ever with just modernization upgrades. The Abrams MBT is projected to be in service until 2050, We have B-52’s still in service. The Iowa class BB’s lasted for 50 years.
We let the Navy fly them (F-16Ns at NFWS, VF-126, VF-45 and others) and they ruined them in less that five years. ;)
Man, are you gonna need a pee break after all that time.
Just for starters, you cannot realistically simulate the effects of 92 years of exposure to the elements, metal fatigue and corrosion in two years.
If you build them.. they will.. sell.
Combat use of F-16s in Mideast spurs fresh demand: Lockheed
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/combat-f-16s-mideast-spurs-fresh-demand-lockheed-093331142—finance.html
DUBAI (Reuters) - Combat use of Lockheed Martin Corp’s .. F-16 fighter jets in air strikes over Yemen, Syria and Iraq is spurring fresh demand for the warplane, which has sold 4,588 times and is in use by 27 countries, according to Lockheed officials.
Randy Howard, director of Lockheed’s integrated fighter group, told Reuters that current F-16 orders would keep the production line running through the fourth quarter of 2017, but other opportunities in Indonesia, the Gulf, eastern Europe and other regions could extend the line well into 2019 and beyond.
Rick Groesch, regional vice president for Lockheed in the Middle East, said a number of countries in the Gulf already operated F-16 jets, but others were taking a closer look after seeing successful use of the jets against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, and insurgents in Yemen.
Combat operations are “certainly opening the eyes of the various air forces to the sense that it makes to have interoperability with your neighbor if you’re flying,” Groesch told Reuters.
Lockheed has sold F-16s to Oman, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt and United Arab Emirates, but remains in discussions with Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia about other potential opportunities, Groesch said.
—snip—
We tried the nuclear jet engine, back in the early 1960s. It worked, but was radiologically filthy.
Talk about chemtrails...
According to the director of the movie Battlefield Earth the Harrier can fly for 1000 years.
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