General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon operational history
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon (in later years manufactured and marketed as Lockheed Martin F-16) has served the United States and the air arms of 25 other nations.
F-16Ds from the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB were used as spotter aircraft to search and find Iraqi SAMs and Republican Guard troops.
It was during the "Package Q" mission that two F-16s, from 614th TFS 'Lucky Devils', part of the 401st TFW (P), flying from Doha, Qatar were lost to SAMs with their pilots (Capt Mike "Cujo" Roberts and Maj 'Tico' Tice downed, respectively, by a SA-2 and SA-3) becoming POWs.
Phantoms had the powerful AN/APR-47 and with these systems, they did the more difficult tasks (attacking the mobile radar sites); F-16s were only recently fitted with HARMs, and the bulk of USAF SEAD was still the F-4G (another 48 were at Sheik Isa, Bahrain).
The 138th Fighter Squadron (174th TFW, New York ANG) used 24 F/A-16s equipped with a 30 mm gunpod, the GPU-5/A 'Pave Claw', a four-barreled derivative of the A-10 Thunderbolt's GAU-8 Avenger, but this proved a failure owing to excess vibration and inadequate gunsights.
Its pilot, then-Lieutenant Colonel (later General and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force) David Goldfein, 555th Fighter Squadron's commander, managed to eject and was later rescued by a combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) mission.
On 4 May 1999, a lone Yugoslav Mig-29 flown by Lt. Col. Milenko Pavlović attempted to intercept a large NATO formation that was returning to base after bombing Valjevo (the pilot's home town).
[34] In September 2010, USAF F-16s dropped two bombs providing close air support for an Iraqi Army unit that was overwhelmed by armed insurgents.
Soviet/Russian sources state the Syrians lost six MiG-23MFs, four MiG-23MSs and fourteen MiG-23BNs in the Bekaa Valley Israeli F-16s, the bomber workhorse of the Israel Defense Forces, participated in the 2006 Lebanon War.
[48] On 25 April 2013, an Israeli F-16C shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from Lebanon over the sea off Haifa, in northern Israel using a Python-5 missile.
[63] No cause was determined, but the investigation referenced the fact that a camel spider and other creatures had recently been found in the cockpits of Dutch aircraft in Afghanistan.
During the final phases of the campaign, the fighters also took part in several offensive missions targeting Yugoslav radar installations, fuel depots and command centers.
According to this claim, Flight Lieutenant Shahid Sikandar Khan's F-16 was hit by an AIM-9 missile fired by another F-16 piloted by Squadron Leader Amjad Javed.
Later in the war, lack of spare parts due to sanctions imposed on Pakistan forced the PAF to withdraw its F-16 fleet from regular patrol duties.
[75] Pakistani sources state that the number of border violations by Indian aircraft dropped noticeably when F-16s were on patrol and that there were several cases of PAF F-16s and IAF Mirage 2000s tracking each other with their radars, but again no combat took place.
Prior to the operations in the Swat Valley, approximately 10 of the PAF's F-16s were fitted with high-resolution infra-red sensors for reconnaissance purposes, supplied by the United States, to provide the Pakistani military with detailed imagery of the area.
[93] According to Foreign Policy magazine, U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the matter asserted that the US has recently completed a physical count of Pakistan's F-16s and has found none missing.
[104] On 8 October 1996, 7 months after the escalation over Imia/Kardak, during an air-to-air confrontation over the Aegean Sea in the Athens FIR, a Greek Mirage 2000 fired an R550 Magic missile and shot down a Turkish F-16D.
Most notably during winter bombing campaign of 2008 Turkish incursion into northern Iraq where Turkey launched its first cross-border raid on 16 December 2007, involving 50 fighters before Operation Sun.
[115][116][117][118][119] On August 29, 2015 Turkish F-16's launched a massive scale bombardment campaign in response to the Suruç terrorist attacks that killed 34 civilians in the small border town.
As a result, F-16's stuck dozens of terrorist storage depots, stations, convoys and foot-presence, as-well as pushing the majority of ISIS's militia-structure back from Turkeys borders.
Russia claims it is un-aware of any-such incident over Gaziantep shower says that Hatay violation was caused by a combination of bad-weather and defensive maneuvers against SAM systems that only lasted "a few seconds".
[126] During an escalation between Syria and Turkey at the beginning of March 2020, the two countries confronted each other in open war, leading to a surge in air combat kills on the hand of Turkish F-16s against Syrian jets.
Starting on 23 September 2014, Emirati F-16s joined the American-led intervention in Syria, part of Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
[138] Starting on 23 September 2014, Bahrain air force F-16s joined the American-led intervention in Syria, part of Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
On 10 May 2015, at 18:00 local time, one Royal Moroccan Air Force F-16C Block 52, serial number 08-8008, crashed while performing a mission as part of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, the pilot of a second F-16 said that he did not see any ejection.
[141] Starting on 23 September 2014, Jordanian Air Force F-16s joined the American-led intervention in Syria, part of Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
On 24 December 2014, a RJAF F-16 crashed near Raqqa, Syria, and its pilot, Flight Lieutenant Muath al-Kasasbeh, was captured by Islamic State militants.
The United States Air Force also reprogrammed the F-16s' electronic warfare systems using its threat libraries to help protect them from Russian weapons.
[154] The next day, the Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, was dismissed by President Zelenskyy and replaced by Lieutenant General Anatolii Kryvonozhko.
