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US Air Force Considers F-16 Order 16 Years After Last Delivery
The USAF may be ordering the aircraft to compensate for delays with the F-35 Lightning II. Read more here.
Science & Tech
After last week's announcement that the U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a 10-year contract for F-16 fighter jet maintenance, sources reported to Aviation Week that the service is also considering making an order for new F-16 aircraft.
The last USAF F-16 was delivered on March 18, 2005, and assigned to Shaw Air Force Base, South California. This ended a run, starting in 1978, of 2,231 F-16s produced for the Air Force.
The F-16 has evolved over the years making it a multi-role, all-weather, all-purpose aircraft weapon system — though artificial intelligence may have sussed it out. Currently, more than 1,300 of the aircraft are still in service of the Air Force.
After the last U.S. Air Force order in 2005, Lockheed Martin continued producing F-16s for international customers — the last model was delivered to Iraq in 2017.