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Thunderbird jet crashed Thursday after a flyover of the academy's commencement, which was attended by President Obama, the US Air Force said.

Pakistan failed to move forward with the purchase of eight U.S.-made F-16C/D Block-52 fighter aircraft following a dispute over financing, Dawn reported on May 28. According to an unidentified source Pakistan failed to provide a so-called Letter of Acceptance for the procurement of the eight fighter jets by May 24 and the offer expired. “Pakistan decided not to fully fund the case with national funds, so the terms of sale have now expired,” the source told Dawn. U.S. lawmakers have been blocking financing for the eight F-16s under the so-called Foreign Military Financing (FMF), with the result that Pakistan would...

US House blocks aid to duplicitous Pakistan The US House of Representatives' decision to incorporate stringent requirements for the release of American aid to Pakistan, even in the face of opposition from the White House, is indicative of a gradual change of heart in Washington, DC, towards what was once its frontline ally in the war on terror. It comes days after the US Congress objected to the sale of American F-16s, which have little value in fighting insurgents but help Pakistan build parity with India. This is not to suggest that the US is anywhere close to changing its...

The US will no longer subsidise the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, a senior state department official has told the BBC. The decision means that Pakistan will have to pay more than $700m (£480m) - two-and-a-half times the original cost - if it wishes to buy the aircraft. It comes after Congress refused to approve funding for the deal. Some US lawmakers had accused Pakistan of not doing enough to fight militants. India also objected to the sale. However, Pakistan has argued that the jets are needed for anti-terror operations, and so the US should help with...

On the 45th anniversary of the F-16 lightweight fighter’s first flight, Lockheed Martin faces the very real prospect of turning off "Fighting Falcon" production as prospective customers like Pakistan struggle to clear the US government’s regulatory and funding processes. After assembling more than 4,500 F-16s in almost 140 different configurations, the Fort Worth, Texas production line is thawing from hot to lukewarm and could go cold by “about the end of 2017” after Lockheed delivers the remaining seven of 36 Iraqi F-16IQs. Iraqi F-16IQ US Air Force Lockheed’s F-16 programme chief Susan Ouzts said this week that several countries have...

A Norwegian fighter pilot has published a soft rebuttal to a damaging critique leaked last summer about the Lockheed Martin F-35A’s dogfighting prowess, contradicting many of the critical points made in the scathing review written by a Lockheed test pilot. Royal Norwegian Air Force Maj Morten “Dolby” Hanche, a US Navy test pilot school graduate with 2,200 flight hours in Lockheed F-16s, has flown several mock dogfights from Luke AFB in Arizona since becoming the nation’s first F-35 pilot last November. These have yet to advance to performing "dissimilar" training against other aircraft types. In a blog post on Norway’s...

South Africa’s reputation as top gun when it comes to air power in the southern African region could be shot down by Angola and its powerful new Russian fighters. The west African country is set to take delivery of the first tranche of Sukhoi Su-30K fighters in the next six months and will have 12 in service by the end of next year. Gauteng Afrikaans daily Beeld approached military analyst Helmoed Heitman, retired SAAF and Indian Air Force pilot colonel Rama Iyer and a former officer commanding 2 Squadron for their views on how the SA Air Force’s (SAAF) Gripens...

Washington: The Obama administration on Friday notified the US Congress of its decision to sell eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan worth nearly $700 million. Upset with the decision, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said,"We are disappointed at the decision of the Obama Administration to notify the sale of F-16 aircraft to Pakistan." He also said that India disagrees with the rationale of the US that such arms transfers help to combat terrorism. The MEA will summon US ambassador to convey India's displeasure over the decision of the Obama government. Despite mounting opposition from influential lawmakers from both...

The Congress has recently blocked the White House-approved sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan. The deal is viewed to have no relevance to Pakistan’s war against terror besides being used in offensives against India, Washington’s recent ally with a staunch lobby. Last March, the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs blocked sale of cutter vessels worth $150 million to the Pakistan Navy on the same pretext. Defense purchases from the US have rarely been upfront commercial transactions. The White House never shies away from taking political and diplomatic mileage, thereof. High performance Despite its plan to induct at...

Forty-two years ago on this day, General Dynamics test pilot Phil Oestricher undertook the YF-16 prototype’s first flight during what was supposed to be a high-speed taxi test at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Oestricher’s so-called “Flight Zero” was completely unplanned and unexpected, but provided extremely valuable data for the development of what eventually became the U.S. Air Force’s mainstay F-16 Fighting Falcon. Oestricher—who passed away on Dec. 18, 2015—said that the flight test plan was to go down the runway pushing the aircraft up to 135 knots, lifting the jet no more than about two feet above the ground....

The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) on Monday rolled out the 16th Block 2 JF-17 aircraft and formally handed it over to the Pakistan Air force (PAF). A target of producing sixteen JF-17 Thunder jets was given to the complex, said the spokesperson, adding it has now been decided to expand the production capacity of the PAC Kamra. Meanwhile, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman said Pakistan is in negotiations with the United States to procure the latest F-16 fighter jets, but did not specify an exact number, Express News reported. “We are in talks with US defence...

The U.S. Air Force might buy 72 upgraded F-15, F-16 or even F-18 fighter aircraft due to low F-35 production rates and the high cost of the F-35. The U.S. Air Force “is struggling to afford 48 F-35s a year” for the first years of full-rate production a senior Air Force officer told Aerospace Daily & Defense Report. Full rate-production is slated to begin in 2019 and the U.S. Air Force wants to buy 60 planes in 2020, and 80 F-35 per year after that. This year, the Air Force is to receive 28 F-35s, whereas in 2016 the number...

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...

US Embassy On October 29, Ambassador Stephen Beecroft and Senior Defense Official Major General Charles Hooper joined Air Marshal Younes al-Masri and other senior Egyptian military officials in a ceremony at the Cairo West Air Force Base to receive four F-16 “Fighting Falcon” fighter jets delivered by the United States to the Egyptian Air Force. Welcoming the four U.S. Air Force pilots who made the 14 hour flight from the United States to Egypt, Ambassador Beecroft called the delivery “another step forward in U.S.-Egyptian cooperation on fighting terror, bringing stability to the region, and strengthening our historic relationship.” The F-16...

<p>BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — While visiting this sprawling military installation north of Kabul last week, I visited the flight line of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing. And then I stumbled into a little history.</p> <p>The plane is an F-16C Fighting Falcon, commonly known in the service as a Viper. The U.S. military has at least one pair of fighters airborne over Afghanistan virtually all the time, carrying out everything from the armed over-watch and protection of ground units to airstrikes against insurgents.</p>

Meet the F-16V ‘Viper’ - the newest, most advanced fighter in the F-16 family that has just made its maiden flight.

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is preparing to sell eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan in an attempt to bolster the two countries' relationship despite Washington's reservations about Pakistan's growing nuclear arsenal, said a report published on The New York Times (NYT) website. The aircraft sales, which the United States (US) Congress could block, would be a symbolic step given Pakistan's current large fleet of fighter jets. According to the NYT report, the Congress was notified just days ago about the proposed sale of the additional fighters although it is not clear if the White House plans to announce the sale...

A U.S. F-16 was struck by enemy fire in eastern Afghanistan in a rare instance of an advanced fighter jet coming under attack by insurgents, military officials have confirmed to AFP. The $100 million jet sustained significant damage which forced it to jettison its fuel tanks and munitions before returning to base, officials said. The attack occurred last Tuesday in the Sayid Karam district of eastern Paktia province, much of which is under control of the Taliban. The group had posted a statement on Twitter that evening saying they had downed an enemy jet.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) is one of the most experienced and capable air forces in the world, with roughly 400 American-made F-16 and F-15 fighters in its inventory. For the most part, this force resembles a smaller version of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) “legacy” fighter fleet – fourth generation aircraft originally developed during the 1970s. Like the USAF, however, many of these aircraft are three decades old and nearing the end of their service life. snip If the F-35 cannot hold its own against fourth-generation fighters, which are increasingly equipped with infrared sensors that can detect stealth aircraft,...

The rivalry between Japan and China over islands in the East China Sea has triggered close encounters between the two sides in the air. Chinese fighters have intercepted Japanese aircraft patrolling the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu Islands to China), resulting in Japanese fighters being scrambled to intercept. These aerial encounters in the Western Pacific highlight the People’s Liberation Army Air Force and the Japan Air Self Defense Force. China’s Su-27 and J-11 air superiority fighters are well known to outsiders, as are Japan’s equivalent, the F-15J Eagle. Less well known are the single-engine multi-role fighters that back up their large, twin-engined...