The seventies were golden for Saddam Hussein. After rising to the easy chair, he launched a program to turn Iraq into an atomic power. At the end of the tunnel was the bomb that Oppenheimer forged, and for this he put to work a nuclear power plant in Osirak, 17 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. Israel responded instantly. On Sunday, June 7, 1981, a fighter patrol took off from the Sinai desert with extra fuel to reach its objective. The pilots flew low to avoid detection, dropped their deadly payload on the plant and ended the dictator’s dream. Those devices were F-16s, the same ones that it is believed the United States could send to Ukraine after sending its M1 Abrams across the pond.
Evolution and characteristics of the F16
The project for this device began in 1972, when the United States Air Force invited the industry to present ideas to modernize its fleet of aircraft. Until then they had F-15 Eagle, too cumbersome and expensive to manufacture. The proposal was to design an evolution that was lightweight, smaller, cheaper, maneuverable, and ultimately durable. Namely: that it adapt acceptably over the years through multiple updates. There was no certainty that the army would adopt it, not even that it would begin to be assembled. But the company Lockheed Martin He managed to create an avionics marvel… for the time.
On its website, the company defines it as the most advanced aircraft of its time: “Its combined wing body offers you additional lift and control. And their state-of-the-art systems increased their stability.” Once again, its essence was maneuverability, which all experts never tire of repeating. Among the advantages that are not usually specified is that it had a cabin that allows 360º vision, something never seen before. “It was designed as an interceptor fighter, but in later years it was adapted to be used as a fighter-bomber. Its greatest milestone, and what has made it sold to 25 operators, including the Bolivarian air forces, is its price,” he told ABC. José Luis Hernández Garvi, analyst and historical researcher.
In practice, the ‘Fighting Falcon‘ –the first version to be released on the market– is 15 meters long and has a wingspan of 10 metres. It is powered by a single turbofan engine that accelerates the aircraft to more than twice the speed of sound. Armament includes a 20mm rotary cannon, as well as underwing and fuselage attachments for a wide variety of bombs and missiles. Loaded for battle, this device weighs about 10,000 kilograms, which, in practice, is half that of the previous generation. So, at least on paper, the company got what it set out to do.
The operations in which he has participated number in the dozens. Among them, the First Gulf War, the invasion of Iraq and the battle for Afghanistan, among others. It is, after all, a tough plane, partly obsolete for the United States, but efficient for countries that are not at the cusp of military evolution. In return, the F35 that the White House promises to create in the coming years are new generation aircraft with avionics adapted to the times. «It will have stealth characteristics and can be found in three versions: one for vertical takeoff, another for aircraft carriers and another conventional. The problem is that it is very expensive to manufacture”, adds the analyst.
For Garvi, the conclusions are what they are: «The F16, one of the most modern combat fighters of its time, the backbone of many Western and allied air forces, has become an obsolete fighter that will be replaced in the coming years. coming years by new generation fighters such as the F35. Despite its magnificent features, for years to come it is doomed to be a second-tier force fighter.”
Help Ukraine
On the other end of the phone, José Luis Hernández Garvi, a student of history and the military world, cannot believe what he hears. He has risen to the news of kyiv’s request for aircraft to fight Russia, but it seems like a Martian to be considering giving up fighters with an operational history of almost half a century. “Yes, it is true that it is an aircraft with many years of service and that it has been modernized several times, but the reality is that it is obsolete. The arms ‘lobby’ will want to remove ‘stock’ because next year they are going to withdraw them from the market », he sentenced.
In part, the data supports him. The United States promises that, by that year, the F-35 will be operational. And Norway, one of the many operators on the old continent, announced last year that its F-16s had their days numbered and that they would not arrive until the first months of 2022. «The reality is that it is a obsolete fighter. It was a sales success, it is all over the world and has participated in the main conflicts of the last four decades, but today it has been surpassed by the Eurofighter or the French Rafale, “he wields. Once again, the numbers are on your side; the White House has some two thousand F-16s and has exported two and a half thousand more.
However, plunging into the situation, he also understands that this idea is nothing more than the continuation of a system of aid to Ukraine that should be considered. “Leopards and Abrams that have been in storage for years are going to be shipped. The same thing will happen with the F-16s », he adds. In turn, he sees a clear similarity with Adolf Hitler’s great mistake in World War II: «At the end of the conflict, instead of betting on a specific weapon, the Third Reich designed many. That caused them a lot of logistical problems. They were missing spare parts, projectiles…». He suspects that something similar will happen today: «The battle tanks are going to become disposable weapons when there are no parts with which to repair them. And the same can happen with airplanes.
Although what makes the shipment questionable is that the Ukrainian armed forces still have a Russian, and quasi-Soviet, doctrine. They are used, therefore, to the vehicles and weapons of Eastern Europe, and not to the West. “They are going to have to train pilots in the United States – or countries that operate F-16s, such as Portugal or Belgium – to be able to drive them. They are not used to systems. Are they going to withdraw the airmen when they are defending Ukrainian airspace? Only time will tell if, in the end, Uncle Sam gets these veteran gadgets across the big puddle. At the moment, negotiations have been opened between one and the other.