Media Galleries : Aviation History

Collection of photos of F-16XL

The U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft continues to serve as America’s Sentinel of Peace. Current U-2s are equipped with the latest, most advanced signals intelligence, measurement and signature intelligence, and imagery intelligence sensors in the Air Force inventory.

The original F-16 was designed as a lightweight air-to-air day fighter. Air-to-ground missions immediately transformed the first production F-16s into multirole fighters. The F-16s that followed expanded and refined these roles with beyond-visual-range missiles, infrared sensors, precision-guided munitions, and a plethora of other capabilities. Current and planned versions of the F-16 build on these refinements, enhancing capabilities even further.

A collection of unique historical photos from the Code One archives.

Now, the U-2 carries imaging and signals intelligence sensors that are as sophisticated as any in the US inventory. Over Iraq during Desert Storm, then over Bosnia, Kosovo, and most recently over Afghanistan, these high-flying eyes and ears have proved indispensable. In the obscure world of aerial reconnaissance, most of the attention, and most of the praise, has gone to other platforms.

Every one of the designs proposed by the three teaming companies had its share of problems and advantages. As the official starting point, however, Lockheed’s design was open to the most scrutiny and criticism.

The official beginning of the ATF program usually traces to 1981 when USAF Aeronautical Systems Division, or ASD, released a request for information for concepts for an advanced tactical fighter. The term advanced tactical fighter and its abbreviation, ATF, however, appeared in a general operational requirements document issued to contractors by the Advanced Planning Branch of ASD almost ten years earlier in 1972.