According to media reports, on June 7, a F-16A fighter that belonged to the "Air Force" affiliated to Taiwan, China, was forced to return to Hawaii due to a failure to return to Taiwan ’s islands in the United States. Essence On the same day, the other 6 F-16A returned to Taiwan Island from the United States.

"Special" F-16 Block 20

The origin of the F-16 of the US-made F-16 in Taiwan is quite deep. After the F-16 began to serve in the US military in the 1970s, Taiwan showed great interest in this aircraft. Obviously, when the F-15 is basically impossible, the F-16 is the most advanced model in Taiwan to introduce the possibility of introduction.

However, at that time, in the political considerations of the United States in the decision-making of foreign trade, Taiwan did not obtain the F-16 as expected. So the F-16/79 of the F-16 family was born-since it is a foreign trade model, the performance has been reduced. engine.

In 1989, Taiwan obtained the introduction of 60 "Phantom" 2000-5. In addition to changes in the international environment, the United States quickly changed its attitude and agreed to "export" 150 F-16 fighters in Taiwan: including Type A 120 Shelf, 30 B, a total amount of 6 billion US dollars.

This export project was named the "Phoenix Plan" by Taiwan.

The "Air Force" F-16 Block20 deployed in the United States

This batch of aircraft is quite special:

At first, the United States was unwilling to provide Taiwan with a complete performance version of F-16C/D, and only agreed to export the earlier version of F-16A/B; but after the 1990s, GE's mass production models have been with F- 16A/B has a significant difference.

After coordination, Taiwan has obtained a very special F-16 A/B mix and match version, which is the so-called "F-16 Block 20".

F-16 Block 20 on the body platform, the fuselage and analog electrical flight control system of F-16A/B Black 15 OCU is used; the other parts mainly come from different batches of the F-16C/D type, including Block 3222 F100-PW-220 engine, Block 30/40 wing, Block 52's rear wing, and Block 42 have a purse road with a hanging point.

On the fire control and aviation system, the F-16 Block 20 is mainly based on the MLU plan of the F-16, but it has made some functional restrictions and simplification. These changes are mainly related to the supporting pod and weapon solution of the machine.

An/APG-66 radar.

As for the supporting pod and weapon solutions of these F-16s, it is naturally constrained by the United States:

The United States refuses to provide the AIM-120 active mid-range missile that can lock multiple targets at the same time after launching the machine. Only AIM-7M semi-active mid-distance spacing that needs to be continuously exposed during the launch process, one at a time can only lock the only target of attacking a single target at a time missile.

To this end, the AN/APG-66 radar was removed from launching the AIM-120 missile, but added a continuous wavelet.

It can be said that the batch of F-16 BLOCK20, which was originally obtained by Taiwan, was a three-generation machine with severe restrictions on the ground, accurate attack capability to the sea, and over-the-dimensional air combat capabilities.

For example, in the ground attack on the sea, it can only put the "Mavericks" missile that guided bombs and television -guided.

But in more than ten years after 1998, the combat capability of F-16 Block 20 has been greatly improved.

Taiwan has obtained incomplete functional versions of Lantirn pods, AN/VDS-5 LOROP-EO reconnaissance pods, AIM-120C-5/7 active mid-range missiles, "fish forks" anti-ship missiles and "sniper" "Pod and other equipment.

The F-16 after mount AGM84 pose a great threat to medium and large warships.

These changes have enabled F-16 Block 20 to obtain over-range combat capabilities of shooting multiple targets at the same time, low-altitude combat capabilities at night, anti-ship combat capabilities of large warships, and accurate attack capabilities for laser guidance bombs Wait.

Among these improvements, the F-16 Block 20 body and core avionics equipment themselves are not great-comprehensive and significant improvement and upgrade appeared on the later F-16V projects.

Or the F-16V that needs to be taken seriously

According to Taiwan's Ruyi abacus, its F-16 will follow the related plans of the US military to achieve "comprehensive upgrade". However, due to the reduction of military expenditure budgets in the United States, the US military's F-16 comprehensive upgrade plan has almost all canceled.

However, because the F-16 is not replaced by Taiwan, Taiwan chooses to continue promoting the completion of this project with "real gold and silver"-the result is the first time in 2012 that appeared at the F-16C/D Block 70/72 at the Singapore Air Show in 2012 Also known as F-16V.

F-16V displayed by Loma's official website.

According to some "agreements" between the United States and Taiwan, the ownership of the F-16V prototype belongs to Taiwan. The aircraft is resident in the Edward Air Force Base in the United States and is responsible for the relevant R & D test task, the serial number AF93-702.

An/APG-83 Active phase control array radar.

The F-16V is a standard three-generation semi-fighter jet. The configuration includes an/APG-83 active phase control array radar, JHMCS joint helmet aiming system, night vision, new electronic warfare system, suction coating, enhanced type starting type Falling the frame, etc.

Further subdivision, Taiwan ’s F-16V includes two categories: some are upgraded by F-16 Block 20, which is called F-16 AM/BM; the other is the 66 new C/D types made of newly manufactured. It is F-16 CM/DM.

On the vehicle device, there is a certain difference between AM/BM and CM/DM. CM/DM should be more advanced on electronic warfare, communication, and photoelectric aiming equipment.

In addition, the automatic anti -collision field system involves the in -depth integration of the electrical flight control system. As of now, it has not been installed on AM/BM. According to the previously public information, it will not be installed until the end of 2023.

In terms of power, the F-16 AM/BM has not further improved; although the original plan to replace the F100-PW-229 engine, due The series of factors, due to cost control factors, this improvement was canceled.

The F-16 CM/DM has a GE company F110-GE-129 engine with a significant increase in thrust.

F-16 Mount AIM-120 and AGM-88. Under the mounting configuration, the F-16 can form a high degree of threatening capacity for key nodes such as air defense radar and communication command center.

In addition to the body itself, the maximum improvement of the F-16V combat capability is that the supporting weapon system has been greatly updated. These include the fourth-generation fighting missile AIM-9X, JDAM precise guidance bombs, AGM-154 stealth long-range glide bombs, AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missiles, and MS -10 reconnaissance pods.

Because of the combination of F-16's good flight performance and combat capabilities, the F-16V has also been favored by other customers. As of June 2021, F-16V has received 140 new orders, and more upgrades have been upgraded: the United States itself will upgrade 608.

Under such "investment", Taiwan may also be able to obtain certain profits from the development and sales of F-16V. Judging from the current situation, the Taiwan F-16V group may be a force that needs to be treated seriously.

Copywriter:

Capture: Ruyi

Editor -in -law: Wu Chen, Wang Lan

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