Ukraine war
Channel: War of Ukraine
Date: 2023-05-03

The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon (English literally - a fighting falcon - named after the mascot of the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs [12]) is an American multifunctional light fighter of the fourth generation [13].

Developed in 1974 by General Dynamics. Transferred to service in 1978. In 1993, General Dynamics sold its aircraft manufacturing business to Lockheed Corporation (now Lockheed Martin). F-16, due to its versatility and relatively low cost, is the most massive a fourth-generation fighter (as of June 2018, over 4,604 aircraft were built) and enjoys success in the international arms market (it is in service with 25 countries, in 2019 it was the most common combat aircraft in the world[14]). The last of 2231 F-16s for the US Air Force were handed over to the customer in 2005 [15]. The upgraded F-16 continues to be produced for export in 2018; in particular, in June 2018, 16 aircraft were ordered by Bahrain[4], 14 by Slovakia and 8 by Bulgaria in the F-16V version. 

The first US Air Force aircraft with an estimated speed of M = 2, which was designed to gain air superiority with maneuvers at an overload of 9 g. Innovations used included: a teardrop-shaped canopy for better cockpit visibility, a side control stick, a folding seat to reduce the effect of overloads on the pilot, a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than one for better climb and vertical maneuver.

The F-16 was designed to be relatively inexpensive to manufacture and easy to maintain compared to previous generations of fighter aircraft. In the design of the F-16 airframe, the mass fraction of various materials:

Aviation aluminum alloys - 80%
Steel - 8%
Composite materials - 3%
Titanium alloys - 1.8%
Other materials - 7.2%.