The F-16 is NOT John Boyd's bird. John Boyd, Pierre Sprey, and the rest of the fighter mafia wanted the F-16 to be a lightweight day fighter with no air to ground, and no radar.
Had the fighter mafia had their way, the F-16 would have gone the way of the F-5 decades ago as an obsolete one-trick pony.
I would have sworn the F-16 was in production a lot earlier than 1978, but I guess not. I was offered a ‘regulated position’ at the ‘Fighter Factory’ in the mid-eighties but turned it down. I don’t regret it a bit. If it requires joining a union, I ain’t touching it.