F-16 around the world

Rappel du premier message :

l'AS a des AIM-120C

Il reste les MLU danois et norvégiens, et portugais.

je doute qu´ils seront encore vendables d´ici reception/ops des F35
portugal vend une partie deja a la roumanie

Ça fait tout de même une bonne centaine de machines, je doute que tout ça vole régulièrement faute de financement, mais les danois et les norvégiens sont des gens qui entretiennent le potentiel de leurs avions.

mais qui ont des restrictions sur l'exportation d’armement assez sévère...

à 10 millions$ sa reste une excellente affaire

QF-16  

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U.S. Fighter Aircraft Pricing Themselves Out of the Export Market

At a time when U.S. arms manufacturers are turning to overseas markets to help make up for declining sales to Pentagon, analysts warn that the high prices of American fighter jets could place U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage.

The arrival of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter gives manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp. an opportunity to sell the world’s most technologically advanced aircraft. But its price tag, in excess of $100 million per airplane, will make it unattainable for most non-U.S. buyers, according to new analysis by The Teal Group, a market research firm. Other perennial contenders in international competitions, Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and F-15 Eagle, also are becoming out of reach for many nations.

“We've jacked up the price of fighters,” says Teal Group Vice President Richard Aboulafia. “The export market’s reaction? ‘No, thank you,’” he tells industry executives at a meeting hosted by the Air Force Association, in Arlington, Va.

Although the average unit price of fighters sold internationally today is $65 million — about the cost of a Super hornet — the bulk of the export market increasingly wants F-16 prices, which is about one-third less, says Aboulafia.

Of 52 countries that buy fighters worldwide, 30 are in the $35 million to $50 million price range, he says.

American firms face a “ real issue” trying to sell higher end machines, Aboulafia says. There are currently just five F-15 users after 40 years of trying to sell it internationally, and one non-U.S. user of the Super Hornet after 15 years of competitions, he says. “That's not good.”

As the manufacturer of the F-16, Lockheed effectively owns the keys to the kingdom of export fighters, says Aboulafia. The problem is that the company is focusing its marketing efforts on the F-35 as it courts international buyers, and only a handful of countries can afford it.

“It's very telling when you go to [Lockheed’s plant in] Fort Worth, Texas, that the F-16 line is treated like the red-headed stepchild,” he says. “I don't think it's necessarily in their interest to keep it going. … But it is concerning because, in terms of the export market, the F-16 line is extremely relevant and necessary.”

The majority of buyers over the coming decades will shop for fighters in the price range of the F-16 or the Mirage 2000, made by France’s Dassault Aviation, Aboulafia says. “And that is the market that we're in danger of abandoning.”

It is estimated that only seven countries could afford the Super Hornet and another seven might be candidates for the F-35, including Singapore, Japan, Israel and South Korea.

That is a very small pool of buyers, says Aboulafia. For most countries, “a buck and a quarter isn't going to cut it,” he says, referring to the current price of the F-35. “If prices don't go down, the U.S. risks losing a considerable chunk of the world export fighter market which isn't only important from an economic standpoint, but also for strategic relations and keeping allies happy.”

The United States already riled key allies when the Air Force decided to end production of Lockheed’s F-22 air-superiority fighter at 187 airplanes, before it could be sold internationally. “It is bad enough we killed the F-22 before satisfying Japan and Australia," Aboulafia says. The F-35 is now the only high-end fighter in a position to compete for a small number of wealthy nations’ business, he adds. “Having a one-size-fits-all $100 million fighter is just as dangerous in a lot of ways. The market might not grow to pay that price.”

A shrinking pool of buyers is simply the result of global economic trends.

A group of countries that used to buy lower end fighters bifurcated into haves and have nots. The haves, such as South Korea, moved up into the F-15 or F-35 market. The majority of the have-not countries — including Kenya, Bolivia and Argentina — no longer buy anything except used planes, says Aboulafia. “The market either migrated up or down.”

This puts the United States in a tough spot trying to compete in the developing world as U.S. manufacturers struggle to keep their production lines going. “The last F-15 gets delivered in 2018 or 2019 to Saudi Arabia. … The last F/A-18 E/F exports deliver in 2015 or 2016 unless we win Brazil or Kuwait,” says Aboulafia. Current orders for F-16s would extend production until 2017. “This is worrying.”

The biggest pot of future fighter business, which he calls the "undetermined" sector of the market, is in developing countries that demand lower prices and more technology transfer. “If you want to survive in the fighter market and you're not Lockheed or [Russian manufacturer] Sukhoi, this is what you have to access before the next decade.”

The United States blew a major opportunity in India last year, where Lockheed and Boeing lost to Dassault’s Rafale, he says. “It's pretty clear we did a bad job of promoting U.S. products and make sure that everybody in Treasury, State and Defense were on the same page in terms of technology transfer and offset issues.”

U.S. firms should worry about Sukhoi’s T-50 fighter, he says. “Russia fell from grace, but they've done a good job reinventing their industries,” Aboulafia says. “The T-50 looks real to me, although it's going to happen slower than expected.”

There are only four remaining fighter competitions — in Brazil, Malaysia, Kuwait and Qatar — where the F-35 is not participating and the stakes are huge for the F/A-18, F-15 and F-16, he says. For U.S. industry, winning these deals could be a matter of survival, he says. “If you want more than one fighter line, you have to start accessing the undetermined market. ... That is why it was such a disaster when the F/A-18 lost India.”

That Lockheed has kept the F-16 line going on exports alone is "extraordinary,” he says. Nearly 4,600 have been sold since 1970. “The F/A-18 is not going to have this future if the U.S. Navy stops buying them. It doesn't enjoy a decade thriving on exports.” The Super Hornet is “good value for money, but it's not in a sweet spot. It's not really high end, and not really 'great' value like the F-16 is.”

Lockheed Martin spokesman Ken Ross says the company does not see the F-35 limiting its opportunities in the international market. The F-35 and the F-16 are “complementary” products, he says. The F-35 is for those countries that are looking ahead to the “next level of capability,” Ross says. “We provide options.”
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1320Posted at 12:53 PM by Sandra Erwin

analyse tres pertinente d´Aboulafia comme tjs,les US ont de quoi s´inquieter au futur

Outstanding F16 Images Of 2013

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An F-16 from the Combined Test Force at Edwards AFB, California, goes vertical in afterburner.
Photo by Chad Bellay

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An F-16 from the Combined Test Force at Edwards AFB, California, climbs over the world's largest compass rose on Rogers Lake.
Photo by Chad Bellay

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Chase F-16 goes vertical during an operational check flight from Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas.
Photo by Liz Kasznyski

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Three-ship break of a formation of F-16s from the 457th FS. Part of the 301st Fighter Wing at NAS Fort Worth JRB, the 457th shares a runway with Lockheed Martin.
Photo by Liz Kaszynski

belle place contre le froid  

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US Air Force SrA Nate Hall conducts a post flight inspection on an F-16 Fighting Falcon on 5 July 2013 at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.
Photo by SrA Scott Saldukas

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Lockheed sees F-16 fighter jet production continuing through 2020



Lockheed Martin Corp has enough orders to keep its F-16 fighter jet production line humming through the third quarter of 2017, and hopes to land additional orders that would keep the line running through 2020, company executives say.

Around that time, the cost of Lockheed's new F-35 stealth fighter will have dropped so far that potential customers will likely opt for the newer jet, Bill McHenry, Lockheed's head of F-16 business development, told Reuters in a recent interview.

But for now, the company is continuing to pursue potential F-16 sales and upgrades in the Middle East, South America and other markets, he said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

YES!! je m´y attendais a 2020,la saga continuera encore,ils sniffent les orders

pourkoi ils insistent toujours sur ce genre de comparaison illogique , ca ne rime à rien

parceque ca fait pub pour l´auto

F16CJ

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F-16 Upgrade Dropped From US Budget Proposal, Sources Say

WASHINGTON AND TAIPEI — A major F-16 upgrade program is likely to be left out of the president’s fiscal 2015 budget request, according to multiple sources.

The Combat Avionics Programmed Extension Suite (CAPES) is a US Air Force program to replace the avionics and radars for 300 US F-16s. It would also upgrade 146 Taiwanese F-16A/B fighters purchased in the 1990s.

Sources said the US Air Force has decided not to fund the CAPES program, instead reinvesting some of that money toward a general F-16 service-life extension program (SLEP) while putting the rest toward modernization efforts for other platforms.

While costs for the CAPES program are unclear, both Pentagon insiders and outside analysts put the figure in the billions.

The core of CAPES is a new active electronically scanned array radar. In 2013, Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor on CAPES, selected Northrop Grumman’s Scalable Agile Beam Radar to be installed in the planes. Northrop beat competitor Raytheon, which had put forth its Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar as an alternative.

In addition to the radar, CAPES would include a new high-resolution, color, multi-function display, an electronic warfare suite and an integrated broadcast service for multiple intelligence broadcasts, according to a government report.

By moving money toward the SLEP, the Air Force would provide some cover against the F-35 joint strike fighter slipping past its December 2016 initial operating capability date. It is also possible that some of the advanced avionics could become part of the SLEP, offering a cheaper, halfway method toward modernizing the F-16s.

“There is a real force structure problem looming. So something has to be done to keep the F-16, or at least part of the F-16 fleet, effective,” said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis with the Virginia-based Teal Group.

The Air Force appears to be planning “the bare minimum, rather than something that would offer more capability,” he added. “That helps solve the force structure problem, but of course it doesn’t do anything for combat effectiveness.”

Aboulafia also noted that this could have ramifications on the international radar market. The Raytheon radar was selected by South Korea early last year, and Singapore remains in play, as well;if Northrop loses CAPES it could harm long-term prospects for other radar upgrade programs.

Northrop would appear to be the big loser if CAPES is defunded, and could activate its network of supporters in Congress to fight the cut. However, the Air National Guard would stand to benefit from a more robust SLEP, giving the move some support on the Hill.

A Northrop spokeswoman declined to comment on budget speculation, as did a spokesman for Lockheed. Per service policy, an Air Force spokeswoman declined to comment on budget details prior to its submission to Congress.

While losing out on CAPES would be a blow to the Pentagon’s fleet of F-16s, it would have much greater impact on Taiwan.

In 2011, the US Air Force awarded Taiwan a $5.3 billion upgrade program for its remaining fleet of 146 F-16A/B fighters. Taiwan’s program would be directly based on the CAPES program, with USAF making all of the source selections.

The one complaint Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) had with the deal was that Taiwan was being saddled with much of the nonrecurring engineering costs for integrating the radar.

Taiwan officials were confident, however, that riding CAPES’ coattails would prove wise. Officials were also anxious to please the Pentagon.

With CAPES defunded, MND officials are expected to “panic,” said Fu Mei, director of the Taiwan Security Analysis Center.

“This is a crisis,” he said. “Taiwan should have taken more control over the source selection instead of handing it over to the [US Air Force] to run it.”

“Now Taiwan’s MND will have to figure out an exit strategy even though the warning signs were there,” he said. “The MND did not begin exploring their contingency options soon enough even though warned by industry analysts.”

Without CAPES funding, Taiwan might not be able to afford the F-16 upgrade program. Last week, the MND announced a 20 percent cut in the size of the military over the next five years. Taiwan is struggling due to a decline in the economy and difficulty paying off $13 billion worth of military equipment procured from Washington since 2008.

The president’s budget is expected to be unveiled March 4. Sources have also told Defense News that Northrop’s Global Hawk unmanned system will be funded in the budget, despite the service repeatedly trying to kill the unmanned system. ■

http://www.defensenews.com

513 pages pour connaitre nos F-16 par cœur    et apprendre a piloter un F-16   

F-16 Flight Manual

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Northrop Grumman's Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) Rapidly Achieves Major Program Milestones

2014-02-04T06:30:00-0800

BALTIMORE – Feb. 4, 2014 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) announced today that its Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) has already completed several significant program development milestones.

Last July, SABR was competitively selected by Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) for the F-16 Radar Modernization Program (RMP). The F-16 RMP develops the new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for the U.S. Air Force's Combat Avionics Programmed Extension Suite (CAPES) and Taiwan F-16 retrofit programs. Since selection, the company has completed three major development and design reviews — a Systems Requirement Review, a Hardware Preliminary Design Review, and a Hardware Critical Design Review — with Lockheed Martin and the Air Force. In addition, several Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) systems are now in production, with the first to be delivered to Lockheed Martin later this year.

"Thanks to our extensive experience with both the F-16 aircraft and AESA fire control radars and our risk-reducing investments in SABR, we were able to accomplish these three development milestones in just five months," said Jeff Leavitt, vice president, Combat Avionics Systems business unit, Northrop Grumman.

The F-16 RMP is designed to keep the worldwide F-16 fleet viable in future threat environments and to improve system reliability, maintainability and affordability. SABR has already accumulated more than 4,500 total operating hours including nearly 200 hours of airborne flight test, demonstrating unprecedented system maturity. This maturity enabled an accelerated program after Northrop Grumman was selected for the F-16 RMP.

"We continue to work with intense team focus on program performance," said Leavitt. "I am proud to say that we are producing EMD assets now that will be used for final integration and testing. These EMD assets are anticipated to be identical to future production units."

Northrop Grumman, in partnership with F-16 original equipment manufacturer Lockheed Martin, is offering SABR as the baseline AESA radar as part of any future F-16 avionics upgrade or new production aircraft.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

http://www.northropgrumman.com

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 Publiée le  3 févr. 2014  

In 2014, the F-16 Fighting Falcon celebrates the 40th anniversary of the YF-16
prototype's official first flight. Forty years and more than 4,500 jets later, the
F-16 is the world's most successful 4th Generation fighter aircraft, flown by
28 customers worldwide.