Lockheed Martin F-16E / F Block 60 Desert Falcon
The UAE-funded 'Desert Falcon' — first F-16 with an AESA radar and conformal tanks as standard · First flight 2003 · Delivered 2004
The F-16E (single-seat) and F-16F (two-seat) Block 60 were developed for the United Arab Emirates, which funded the entire roughly $3 billion development programme itself and ordered 80 aircraft. It was the first F-16 with an active electronically scanned array radar, the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-80, and the most powerful F-16 engine, the General Electric F110-GE-132.
Conformal fuel tanks along the upper fuselage add 2,045 litres of fuel without occupying weapon pylons. The first Block 60 flew at Fort Worth on 6 December 2003; initial aircraft were handed over in 2004 for training in the United States, and the first jets arrived in the Emirates in May 2005.
The UAE remains the only operator of the Block 60. A follow-on order for 30 improved Block 61 aircraft was later cancelled, while Block 60 technology fed into later F-16 offers and the F-16V standard.
