General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon/Viper

General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon/Viper
The General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16 is a modern multi-role Fighter Jet featured in Project Reality. First produced by General Dynamics in 1976 and then sold to Lockheed Martin in 1993, the F-16 Fighting Falcon/Viper was developed for the United States Air Force as a Lightweight, short range, WVR (Within Visual Range) dogfighter. As a product of the Lightweight Fighter Program, which both produced the F-16, and the YF-17, the F-16 emphesized the concept of Energy=Maneuverability, indicating that excessive weight would result in less-than desireable maneuverability. According to the E=M theory, the F-16 would have to have a high Thrust-to-Weight ratio, a empty weight of about 20,000 lbs, and exceptional maneuverability. The Navy then chose the loosing YF-17 design was then selected over the YF-16 in the NACF program to then become the F/A-18 Hornet.

Flyout and Production
The YF-16 (the Y-prefix denoting the aircraft is in prototype stage), rolled out on December 13, 1973, and took its first flight February 2nd the following year at Edwards AFB in California. Ironically, Janruary 20th that same year, the first technical first flight took place, when the YF-16 went through a roll-control oscillation, causing the Port-side missile rail and starboard stabilizer to scrape the ground. To avoid destroying the aircraft as it began to veer of the runway, the test pilot, Phil Oestricher, lifted the aircraft into the air and landed it 6 minutes after.

The first production F-16A was produced at General Dynamics' Fort Worth, Texas plant in late 1975, following its rollout on the 20 of October, 1976, and its first flight December 8th that same year. The two-seat F-16B made its first flight on August 8th 1977. The first USAF F-16A was first flown on August 7th 1978 and brought into service Janruary 6th, 1979. On July 21st, 1980, the F-16 was given the nickname of Fighting Falcon.

Since then the F-16 has been adopted into service by many different Air Forces, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, and Norwa WHAT ARE THOESy being the the first foreign recipents of the Fighting Falcon. Turkey has adopted 232 Block 30/40/50 F-16s during the 1980s and 1990s, and will receive 30 further Block 50s in 2010. Turkish Aerospace Industries has produced the F-16 under license for the Turkish Air Force. Korean Aerospace industries has produced 140 Block 52s for the ROKAF during the mid-1990s and mid-2000s.

India has shown WHAT ARE THOESi nterest in the advanced F-16IN for its Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft requirement, and if chosen, India will be the 6th country to produce F-16's, and will produce at least 108 copies.

Expansion and Evolution
The F-16 has gone through a number of modifications throughout its lifetime. Differences between the protoype YF-16 and production F-16 models are plentiful, the fuselage was lengthened by 10.6 inches, a larger radome was made to fit the AN/APG-66 radar, its wing area was increased by to 300 sq ft, its tailfin was shortened, ventrical fins were enlarged, a ad WHAT ARE THOESditional 2 weapon stations were added, and a single-hinged nosewheel door replaced the double doors. The modifications added about 25% more weight to the original YF-16 prototype.

Block 15 Falcon's added a horizontal stabilizer that resolved the issue of deep stalls at high AoA, while adding improved stablity and faster takeoff rotation.

In the 80's, a M WHAT ARE THOESltinational Staged Improvment Progr WHAT ARE THOESam was established to create new capabilities for the F-16, reduce risks durin WHAT ARE THOESg technology development, and to ensure longevity in changing threat enviroments. Service life extention programs were established in the early 2000s to improve aging F-16s.

Design Armament and Propulsion
The F-16 is a supersonic, single-engine, multi-role fighter aircraft. It was designed to be cost-effective, highly flexible, and easy to maintain. It is far smaller and lighter than fighters before it, it is highly aerodynamic, and it is one of the first fighters to make use of fly by wire technology. Because of this, it is capable of 9-g maneuverability and can reach speeds of over Mach 2.

Inside the cockpit the pilot has the luxury of a frameless bubble canopy that allows for increased visibility, a side-mounted stick that eases control in high maneuverability. It features a reclined seat that reduces the effect of g-forces on the pilot. The F-16 is armed with a single M61 Vulcan cannon in the left wing root, above the intake and Leading edge extention, and below and just behind the pilot's seat.

The F-16 is highly modular and thus can carry a multitude of armaments. The F-16A through Block 25, had the capability of carrying the AIM-9 Sidewinder infared AAM, and various special variants had the capability to carry the AIM-7 Sparrow radar-guided AAM. The newer Block 25-50 can be equipped with the earlier model's AIM-9, AIM-120 AMRAAM, and newer Block 60's and above are ready to carry the AIM-132 ASRAAM. All F-16 variants carry the M61 Vulcan cannon and all have the capability to carry various A2G weapons, rockets, missiles, bombs, specifically the AGM-65 Maverick, Hydra 70mm FFAR, the Mk-80 series bombs (Block 50/52+ and above models are the only ones able to carry Mk 83), Paveway series bombs, JDAM, JASSM. The F-16 also has the ability to carry external fuel tanks, ECM pods, targeting pods (ex. LANTIRN, LITENING, Sniper XR) on its 11 hardpoints.

The F-16 can be powered by either the P&W F100, or the GE F110. Initial F-16 models were equipped to use the P&W F-100-PW-200 turbofan, similar to the F100-PW-100 used in the F-15 Eagle. Producing 23,830 lbs of reheated thrust, it was the only engine installed on the F-16 until Block 25, with the exception of Block 15s. Block 15s with the OCU brought the 220 version of the current F100, also installed on block 32 and 42 aircraft, it produced 600 pounds less thrust than the standard 200 engine. But with reduced thrust came the Digital Electronic Engine Control unit which improved the engine's reliability and reduced the risk of inflight engine stalls. In 1997 the 220E was introduced, giving further reliability and maintainability, with a 35% reduction in its unscheduled removal rate. With Block 30, F-16's were given the Modular Common Inet Duct that allowed it to use the F110-GE-100 turbofan, allowing it to produce 28,984 lbs of maxmium reheat thrust. F-16s, still equipped with Pratt and Whitney engines, as well as the new General Electric engines, were designated either with a 0 or a 2 at the end, 0 denoting a F-16 powered by a GE engine, and 2 denoted a P&W powered F-16.

In 1991 and 1992, the Block 50/52 developments, the Increased Performance Engine programs allowed the F-16 to be powered by the F110-GE-129 and the F100-PW-229. They produced 29,588 lbs and 29,100 lbs of thrust, respectively.

The UAE Block 60 F-16, is powered by the F110-GE-132 turbofan, and is rated at 32,500 lbs, the most ever in a F-16 Fighting Falcon.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon/Viper and Project Reality
The F-16 Fighting Falcon in Project Reality is the main Air Superiority Fighter for the United States Army faction (rather under USAF).

Overview
The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multi-role Fighter asset used by the US Army in Project Reality. Originally derived from partner mod team, United States Intervention (USI), the F-16 was introduced for use on the United States Marine Corps faction as a multi-role fighter around patch 0.5(corrections needed). The F-16 was then handed over to the United States Army faction when it was introduced. The F-16 main role in Project Reality is to provide its serving faction Air Superiority and Light ground attack as a secondary role.

Performance
The F-16 has relatively similar performance to its main competitor, the MiG-29 Fulcrum. Overall, the F-16 has a turning rate consistent and similar to that of the MiG-29. The F-16 has handling characteristics that revolve around the horizontal speed of the aircraft. At low speeds, below 650km ingame, the F-16 remains relatively unresponsive in pitch, but at all speeds, the F-16 has a consistent roll and yaw rate. The F-16's turn circle, contrary to real life is the same at all speeds, and at all conditions. This means, for example, if you turn the stick as hard as possible at different speeds, you will always end up with the same turn radius (that saying that conditions are exact, but even if off course, the user should see a relatively consistent turn pattern).

The F-16, has acceleration and speed characteristics similar to the MiG-29. At takeoff, the F-16 accelerate relatively quick and will slow its acceleration towards its peak maximum speed. The F-16's maximum speed depends on altitude, the higher the alitiude, the higher the maximum speed, and vice versa. At 500 alitiude ingame (there is no actual official real life unit of measure in the BF2 engine) the maximum speed on Afterburner is approxamitely 1800km (the speed measure being contrary to any unit of measure in real life as well), and at about 1000 alt, the maximum speed is about 2000km. Deceleration characteristics are slightly disimilar between the Fulcrum and the Falcon. The MiG-29 has a higher drag value, allowing for better deceleration speeds, allowing for easier landings, the F-16 on the other hand, does not decelerate as fast and is not as gravity effected as much as the Fulcrum.

Ingame Armament and Usage
The F-16 ingame, is under USAF livery and is equipped with weapons that the real life Falcon uses.

The USAF F-16 is armed with a 6-Barrel M61A1 cannon with 172 rounds. The M61 is a multi-barrel cannon that fires at 1,800 RPM ingame, and utilizes 20mm Ammunition. Per round, the M61's 20mm is less effective than the MiG-29's 30mm GSH-30-1. But compared to the MiG-29s main weapon, the M61A1 is overall more effective. The GSH-30-1 in the MiG-29 has only 150 rounds, is single Barrel, and its fire rate is at about 1,700 RPM. The M61 has more ammunition to spend, has multiple barrels and has a higher rate of fire.

The F-16 is equipped with 2 external tanks (non-functional as there is no such fuel system in PR/BF2), assuming they are 600 gallons tanks, they will add considerable weight to the F-16 if full. With one consequence comes a plus, the F-16's 600 gal tanks are adapted for 9-g maneuverability, eliminating the need to jettison them in combat to achieve better maneuvrability.

The F-16 is armed with 4 AIM-9M Sidewinder infared air to air missiles. Against other aircraft, a direct hit will most likely destroy it, but attack aircraft like the A-10 and Su-25 when hit may leave minimal health. Like other AAMs, it is susceptable to flares.

Complementing the AIM-9s, the F-16 also is equipped with 2 AIM-120 AMRAAMs giving it a Beyond Visual Range capability, this also indicates that the ingame model represents a Block 25 and above F-16C (Pre-60 as it lacks the IRST fairing on the nose, lacks the Dorsal spine and lacks the Conformal Fuel tanks. Plus the USAF does not use Block 60 E/F F-16s).

Giving it a ground attack capability, the F-16 is given 2 laser-guided GBU-12 500 lbs Precision Guided Bombs. Awkwardly, the bombs on the F-16 appere to be more powerful than those on the A-10A. Although the ones present on the A-10 are 2,000 lbs Mk 84 based GBU-31s.

The F-16 is allow given 30 Infared Flares, which are to ward away both infared and radar guided missiles, this is contrary to real life as F-16s can carry up to 240 expendable countermeasures and the inability for flares to defeat radar guided threats.

Ingame, the F-16 is present on only 2 maps, Kashan Desert Std, and Silent Eagle 64. Their method of spawning is exclusive to the map it is on. Only one is available at a time. The following is only for multiplayer maps.

On Kashan Desert, the F-16 will spawn with the A-10, Su-25 and its competitor, the MiG-29 17 minutes into the game. Should the F-16 be destroyed, it will respawn 20 minutes after it's destruction.

On Silent Eagle, the F-16 will spawn 20 minutes after the United States Army captures its first base and its Main Base, Abandoned Airfield. The Russian team will receive their MiG-29 and Mi-28 Havoc at the same time. Should the F-16 be destroyed, it will spawn 20 minutes after it's destruction.

The F-16 is worth 20 ingame Tickets and is regarded as a high value asset to the team it is being used by. It should only be flown by those experienced and confident enough to. You will be facing various threats, such as enemy aircraft, established anti-aircraft, MANPADs (Stinger and SA-7), AAA (Usually in the form of a ZPU-4, known as the quad cannon by the community), and mobile anti-aircraft vehicles, (Like the Tunguska, and Anti-Aircraft Spandrel).

It is suggested that you do not use a flying asset in a populated server until you have had practice with it, if something is to happen where you are responsible and the asset is lost, you are responsible to any consequences held by the server, administrators, etc. Write the text of your article here!