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In air-to-air combat, F-16s have compiled a 71-to-zero air-to-air exchange ratio with guns and infrared and radar missiles. F-16s achieved the first three combat kills with an AMRAAM missile. In the early 1980s, F-16s effectively destroyed several high-value strategic targets and mobile SAM sites without a loss.
The F-16 was the workhorse of Operation Desert Storm, flying 13,500 sorties with 250 aircraft. F-16s provided more than 40 percent of US Air Force bomb dropping sorties and delivered 20,000 tons of bombs during the Gulf War. The aircraft performed a variety of missions, including Scud Chasing and Killer Scout (fast forward air controller or fast FAC), and produced the highest mission-capable and sortie rates of any aircraft in theater. During the war, F-16s operated from austere, forward-operating locations to maximize sortie rates and payloads.
Since the Gulf War, F-16 squadrons from several nations have served in peacekeeping operations by enforcing United Nations no-fly restrictions over Iraq and Bosnia. In these operations, the Fighting Falcon has served successfully in a number of mission roles, including combat air patrol, close air support, defense suppression, reconnaissance, and fast FAC. |
