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The Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force. Designed as a lightweight fighter, it evolved into a successful multirole aircraft. The Falcon's versatility is a paramount reason it was a success on the export market, serving 24 countries. The F-16 is the largest Western fighter program with over 4,000 aircraft built since production started in 1976. Though no longer produced for the US Air Force, it is still produced for export. In 1993, General Dynamics sold its aircraft manufacturing business to the Lockheed Corporation, which in turn became part of Lockheed Martin after a 1995 merger with Martin Marietta.
The Fighting Falcon is a dogfighter with innovations including a frameless, bubble canopy for better visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while under high g-forces, and reclined seat to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot. It was also the first fighter aircraft to be deliberately built to sustain 9-g turns. It has a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than one, providing enough power to climb and accelerate vertically - if necessary. Although the F-16's official name is "Fighting Falcon", it is known to its pilots as the "Viper", after the Battlestar Galactica starfighter.
The F-16 is a single-engined, multi-role tactical aircraft. It is equipped with an M61 Vulcan cannon in the left wing root, and is almost always armed with two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, one on each wingtip on a dedicated rail. More recent versions can be equipped with the AIM-120 AMRAAM on these rails instead. It can also be armed with a wide variety of air-to-air missiles and air-to-ground missiles, rockets or bombs, carried on a number of hardpoints under the wings.
From the very beginning, the F-16 was intended to be a cost-effective "workhorse" that could perform various kinds of missions and maintain around-the-clock readiness. It is much simpler and lighter than its predecessors, but uses advanced aerodynamics and avionics, including the first use of fly-by-wire (earning it the nickname of "the electric jet"), to maintain good performance.
Cockpit and ergonomics
The pilot sits high in the fuselage with the canopy support-bow behind him, out of his field of view. This and the bubble canopy give the pilot an unobstructed field of view, a feature vital during air-to-air combat. The seat is reclined 30 degrees (other seats are typically inclined around 13 degrees). The control stick is mounted on the right armrest rather than between the legs as is traditional. In addition, a Heads-Up Display (HUD) displays vital information in the pilot's field of view. From Block 52 onwards, the cockpit also uses the Boeing Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS), which was deployed operationally during Operation Iraqi Freedom, although there are no plans to upgrade earlier block variants.
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