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 The US Air Force has requested nine more F-16 Block 50 aircraft, with an option to procure one additional aircraft. These fighters are the first of thirty F-16s USAF plans to buy over the next several years in President Clinton’s budget for fiscal year 2000. The first aircraft will be delivered in May 2002, twenty-four months after contract go-ahead.
“This order sustains near-term production rates and reaffirms USAF’s commitment to continue modernizing its multirole fighter force,” said William B. Anderson, vice president of the F-16 business group at LM Aeronautics. The F-16s will be equipped with the latest software and core avionics, namely the modular mission computer and color cockpit displays and recorders. These hardware features, which will be introduced on USAF F-16s for the first time in June, now constitute the baseline for all future F-16s. They will be incorporated in existing F-16s through USAF’s Block 40/50 fleet retrofit program. The aircraft will also be equipped with the APX-113 advanced interrogator/transponder electronic identification equipment.
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