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LOCKHEED MARTIN HANDOUT Tata and Lockheed Martin bosses signed an agreement in Paris Lockheed Martin and India's Tata Group have formalised an agreement to relocate the manufacturing of the most advanced F-16 fighter jets to India. The effort is aimed at securing a multi-billion dollar deal from Delhi. The announcement comes days ahead of Indian PM Narendra Modi's visit to Washington for a meeting with President Trump. But some defence experts are accusing Lockheed of offloading obsolete aircraft on India. What's in the deal? India will be able to "produce, operate and export the multi fighter F-16 Block 70 aircraft",...

The U.S. Air Force is looking to extend the life of hundreds of F-16C/D Vipers, even more than we previously reported. At the same time, the U.S. Navy seems to have come to a similar conclusion with plans to buy more and better F/A-18E/F Super Hornet derivatives. Suffice it to say that the 4th generation fighter will be alive and well within the Pentagon's inventory for a long, long time to come. On June 12, 2017, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) posted a presolictation notice on the U.S. government’s main contracting website, FedBizOpps regarding production of upgrade...

The U.S. Air Force is still mulling over whether to retire its fleet of F-15C/D Eagle fighter jets and re-equip those units with F-16C/D Vipers. At the same time, the service is looking to move ahead with an extensive F-16 overhaul, which could help tip the scales in favor of those aircraft. On April 12, 2017, Lockheed Martin, the company that makes the Vipers, announced the Air Force had decided to move ahead with a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) for a portion of its existing fleet. The project would give each of the modified jets approximately 4,000 extra flight...

China's militarization of its man-made islands in the South China Sea and the resulting anti-access/area-denial bubbles that will cover massive swaths of that body of water in the not-so-distant future, has Vietnam shopping for weaponry that can counter Beijing's grand plans. Hanoi has already forward-deployed Israeli-built GPS-guided Extra multiple launch rocket systems to their own islands in the South China Sea—a weapon system that could rain down rockets on China's outposts with little warning. Now, Vietnam is looking towards Israel once again for its weapons needs, this time to provide an standoff multi-role cruise missile that can strike targets over...

This startling news came during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the current state of the U.S. Air Force. Chairman Joe Wilson asked right out of the gate about a previously unknown USAF plan to retire the F-15C/D Eagle fleet and replace them with F-16s. The subject of the question itself seemed to be big news to the committee with Congresswoman Vikki Hartzler later asking about what upgrades the F-15C/D was going to get so it could meet modern threats. Obviously the answer is not many if the Air Force is going to retire the jets in the relatively...

American defence major Lockheed Martin today said discussions are currently taking place between the US and Indian governments on the company's plans to set up manufacturing base for F-16 fighter jets in India. "The conversation has progressed to the point that we are deferring at this point to the government-to-government conversation. And that conversation is ongoing," a top company official told reporters at Aero India 2017 air show here. The comments from Randy Howard, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Integrated Fighter, Director, Business Development, came when asked about its move to push ahead with its plan to move production of its F-16...

Lockheed Martin is confident of securing new sales for the F-16, and claims that the type’s economies of scale and broad user base give the Block 70 variant an edge in New Delhi’s requirement for a single-engined fighter. The US firm had a large presence at this year’s Aero India show, which included an F-16 cockpit demonstrator. Abhay Paranjape, executive director of international business development at Lockheed, says that there has been significant engagement between the US and Indian governments on the requirement, which calls for an unspecified number of single-engined fighters to replace legacy types such as the Mikoyan...

A pair of F-16 jets struck two members of a ground-control party -- killing one -- after a training exercise went awry on Tuesday night, officials said in a Wednesday statement. The F-16s were using unspecified munitions when the incident occurred at a range that's part of the White Sands Missile Range complex near Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico. Members of a ground-control party are controllers who provide guidance to military aircraft, including fighters attacking ground targets. The person who was injured was released from a hospital after being treated for unspecified injuries, the statement said. Neither...

These are the amazing scenes which show a Russian-built fighter jet taking on a US Air Force F-16 in a mock dogfight - in what could be a sign that America is preparing for the possibility of war with Moscow. The images were captured by air traffic controller Phil Drake in the skies above Area 51 in Nevada, one of the world's most secret military bases, on the day Donald Trump was elected President. According to Drake, the aircraft in the photographs are a single seater Sukhoi Su-27P and America's veteran F-16. He was visiting the desert surrounding Area 51...

Filmed from aboard a KC-135 Stratotanker with the 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, the video below shows United Arab Emirates F-16 Block 60+ Desert Falcons refueling during a mission in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the US-led coalition’s air war on ISIS in Syria and Iraq, on Dec. 16, 2016. The clip includes some rare close-up footage that provides interesting details about the payload of the world’s most advanced F-16s flown by the UAE Air Force in the anti-Daesh campaign. There appear to be two configurations (both featuring CFTs, Sniper targeting pod and two drops tanks): the first one, includes...

It is only a matter of time before Pakistan can launch short-range missiles to counter conventional attacksNew Delhi - A study of Google satellite images and information from other intelligence sources by US nuclear scientists Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris released earlier this week contains startling revelations: contrary to the conditions laid down by the US when it sold Pakistan F-16 fighters, the US jets, along with the Pak air force's French Mirages, are now nuclear-enabled.Speaking exclusively to DNA, Hans Kristensen, co-author of the 'Nuclear Notebook on Pakistani Nuclear Forces' released November 16 acknowledged that despite the study, US strategic...

The Israeli air force (IAF) is integrating the Rafael Spice 1000 precision bomb onto its Lockheed Martin F-16C/D aircraft. Spice 1000 is a 453kg (1,000lb) bomb equipped with a guidance kit, with pop-out wings that extend its range to more than 100km (54nm). The IAF's F-16C/D fleet belongs to the "First Squadron" that operates from Ramat David air base in the north of Israel, which is currently performing the acceptance tests of the weapon system. This follows assessments carried out by the IAF’s test squadron. The IAF expects to reach full operational capability with the Spice 1000 in the coming...

The contest to supply the Indian Air Force (IAF) a single-engine, medium fighter is currently playing out as a two-horse race. US giant, Lockheed Martin, is the Goliath looking to slay the David that is Swedish firm, Saab. Lockheed Martin, which has offered to shift its F-16 production line to India, is the world's biggest defence firm, with $46.1 billion in sales last year and an order backlog of almost $100 billion. Saab, which has offered its latest fighter, the Gripen E, appears a relative minnow, with $3 billion in sales last year, and an order book of $12.9 billion....

An F-16 fighter jet that crashed during a landing attempt in southern Israel Wednesday, killing its pilot, may have been flying “asymmetrically,” with ordnance on one wing but not the other, an expert said Thursday, as the army probed what caused the fiery wreck and its fatal results. Eran Ramot, a former fighter pilot and researcher at the Fisher Institute for Air and Strategic Studies, said the asymmetry was currently the leading theory for what caused the wreck, which killed Maj. Ohad Cohen Nov. However, that alone should not have caused a crash, as planes and pilots routinely fly with...

Some nights, sitting at a table in a hotel restaurant 17 stories above the Bodø quay, you may see what looks like a spark rise from the Norwegian coast and fly off into the night. Another follows, then both wink out in the distance. They are F-16s from the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) stationed here in Bodø [pronounced “BO-deh”], either on a training flight or scrambled to intercept an aerial visitor, probably a Russian one, skirting Norwegian airspace. Though the conversation around the restaurant is mostly in Norwegian, you also hear diners chatting in English, a good deal of...

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Test pilots and engineers from the 416th Flight Test Squadron had the chance to meet face-to-face with one of the squadron’s success stories Aug. 25. The group met with an allied nation pilot trainee who returned home alive after he experienced a g-force-induced loss of consciousness and his F-16’s Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System activated, executing a ground-avoidance maneuver, just as the system was designed to do. The 416th tested and proved the F-16’s Auto GCAS. The pilot, whose call sign is Ocho, and his instructor pilot came to Edwards at NASA’s request. Both...

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – Six people at the U.S. Air National Guard’s 177th Fighter Wing were taken to the hospital as a precaution Thursday after being exposed to a chemical released from a fighter plane’s emergency power system. Master Sgt. Andrew J. Moseley said the accident happened around 2:30 p.m. Thursday when personnel were working on the F-16’s Emergency Power Unit, which as its name suggests provides electrical and hydraulic power to the aircraft if the engines shut down. The six people were taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, Mainland Campus, as a precaution because of possible exposure to a...

This year is special when it comes to the relationship between the Viper and the Polish Air Force since it has been 10 years since Poland has acquired this slick airframe, significantly modernizing the inventory which remains at disposal of the military aviation units. The anniversary provides an interesting opportunity to sum up the history of the relationship between the Lockheed’s jet and the Polish Air Force. Within the Polish Air Force, the F-16 “Jastrząb” (Jastrząb – Northern goshawk – is the Polish name for the F-16 jet) is being used for a variety of missions, including air-superiority, close air...

Even though the USAF has shuttered the 65th AGRS based out of Nellis AFB, its only F-15C/D aggressor squadron, our friends at Combat Aircraft Monthly say a new F-16 unit is slated to be activated at the base. This new unit will be made up of eight Block 40 F-16C/Ds, with the squadron envisioned to grow to 16 aircraft as the F-35 comes on line and replaces the Viper in front-line units. The F-16s' mission will reportedly be tightly focused on close air support. Combat Aircraft writes: “The CAS Integration Group’s mission will include high-end training as well as an...

In 2007, India began an official tender process for 126 multi-role, medium-range combat aircraft (MMRCA) with Paris-based Dassault at a cost of about $11 billion. It was the world’s largest fighter jet deal at the time. Since then the deal has unraveled. Negotiations stalled over price and quality and, ultimately, Prime Minister Narendra Modi opted to purchase only 36 “ready to fly” aircraft from Dassault. Even this more modest version of deal has yet to fully fructify. Since the original bid, the Modi government has added a “made in India” component as part of all future acquisitions. Amidst the French...