The F-16 Fighting Falcon is one of the best fighter designs made for dogfighting. It's an iconic legacy fighter still used by many air forces in the world. It is still serving with F-15 Eagle and stealth fighters in air squadrons. It can hold its own against a less agile F-35.

F-16 Fighting Falcon, best of the best

The Fighting Falcon has long been a backbone in the Air Force's aerial combat fleet as one of the most versatile aircraft in the inventory. It has been modified to conduct a range of operations for air-to-air combat, ground attack, and electronic warfare, reported Military.

There are 1,000 aircrafts still flying with new variants like the F-16 Viper with new features. Fighting Falcons have been able to survive into the stealth age and kept up.

An F-16's maneuverability and engagement range surpass all potential fighter aircraft in the combat role. It can detect low-flying planes in radar ground clutter and identify targets in most weather conditions.

It can fly over 500 miles in striking ground targets with precise weapons delivered. If other planes want to shoot it down, it will be a bad day for adversaries. It can, most of the time, send down the nose for the most precise hits in all weather conditions.

Design an excellent warbird

American designers and engineers have experience creating the F-16 Fighting Falcon from the F-15 and F-111. This made the excellent performance based on these other US warplanes. The result is lightweight and easy to produce fighter craft with less cost to fly. 

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Its lightweight airframe is not as rugged as the F-15 Eagle. It is capable of having nine Gs when all fuel is loaded up. Most aircraft will find it hard to be flying at a screaming nine Gs.

What makes the Falcon ticks?

The cockpit and its bubble canopy give the pilot an unobstructed forward and upward vision. Improved side and rear sight add to the pilot's awareness in combat. The seat-back angle was increased from 13 degrees to 30 degrees, boosting pilot comfort and allowing additional gravity force tolerance.

Because of the F-16's "fly-by-wire" system, the pilot has outstanding control of the plane. Instead of just using cables and linkage sensors, electrical wires transmit commands. 

Equipped with a side-stick controller, it is used instead of the conventional center-mounted stick. This allows quick and precise control of the aircraft into high G-force combat maneuvers. Electrical signals are sent to flight control surfaces such as ailerons and rudders by hand pressure on the side-stick controller.

Parting shot: weapons and power

The Fighting Falcon is not a bruiser but it fights like a deadly bee. With M-61A1 20mm cannon for close kills in dogfighting and strafing targets if needed. Long-range attacks with six air-to-air missiles were required to survive.

It has more stuff like conventional air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons for versatility. Another is protection with electronic countermeasure pods to protect against lock-ons.

It is a single-engine fighter (F-16C/D) variant that uses a Pratt and Whitney F100 or General Electric F110 engine. It's small and speedy at Mach 2 and max range of 2,002 miles. The F-16 Fighting Falcon has all this built into it, making it a success.

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