It entered the United States Air Force's (USAF) Enhanced Tactical Fighter (ETF) competition in 1981 but lost to the F-15E Strike Eagle.

Shortly after winning the lightweight fighter program, General Dynamics Fort Worth began investigating possible F-16 derivatives with the goal of enhancing both air-to-air and air-to-ground mission capabilities while retaining parts commonality with the F-16A.

[1] Under the leadership of Harry Hillaker (designer of the original F-16), the Supersonic Cruise and Maneuver Prototype (SCAMP) project was started.

[2] The company worked closely with NASA's Langley Research Center[3] and invested significant R&D funds for wind tunnel testing.

[15] With the new wing design, the tail section had to be canted up 3.16°,[18] and the ventral fins removed, to prevent them from striking the pavement during takeoff and landing.

The active suction glove was intended to suck away turbulent airflow over the wings during supersonic flight, restoring laminar flow and reducing drag.

[12][37] It achieved limited supercruise, a design goal of the F-16XL that was never attained in ETF testing, when it reached Mach 1.1 at 20,000 feet (6,100 m) on full military power.

[40][31][41] Suction was provided by a cabin-air pressurization turbocompressor from a Boeing 707, installed where the 20mm ammunition drum had been, which exhausted above the right wing.

[32] NASA briefly investigated using a Tupolev Tu-144 which would more closely resemble the high-speed civil transport aircraft to continue supersonic laminar flow research, but did not pursue the idea due to a limited budget.

[12] In 2007, Boeing and NASA studied the feasibility of returning F-16XL-1 to flight status and upgrading it with many of the improvements found in the USAF's F-16 Block 40 in order to further test sonic boom mitigation technology.

[49] Data from Darling,[51] F-16.net,[52] Piccirillo[53]General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era