General Dynamics F-16A / B (Block 1–15)
The original lightweight fighter — and the jet four NATO air forces built together · First flight 1978 · In service 1979
The YF-16 prototype first left the ground by accident during a taxi test on 20 January 1974 and made its official first flight on 2 February 1974 at Edwards AFB. The first production-standard F-16A flew on 7 August 1978; the single-seat F-16A and the two-seat F-16B carried the Westinghouse AN/APG-66 radar and a single Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-200. The USAF bought 375 F-16As and 125 F-16Bs, and the type became operational in October 1980 with the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB, Utah.
Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway — the European Participating Air Forces — signed up in 1975 for 348 aircraft, built on assembly lines at SABCA in Gosselies, Belgium, and Fokker at Schiphol, Netherlands. Belgian deliveries began in January 1979. Production moved through Blocks 1, 5, 10 and 15; from January 1988 all Block 15 jets were delivered with the Operational Capability Upgrade (OCU), adding a wide-angle HUD, the F100-PW-220 engine and Maverick and Penguin missile capability.
The European fleets were later rebuilt under the Mid-Life Update (MLU), which turned 325 jets into F-16AM/BMs with modern cockpits and avionics: 72 for Belgium, 61 for Denmark, 136 for the Netherlands and 56 for Norway, with Portugal joining later. Surplus Dutch and Belgian MLU jets went on to Chile, Jordan and Pakistan, and Romania flies ex-Portuguese aircraft upgraded to MLU standard.
