Video at link
Posted on 12/20/2016 6:27:37 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Filmed from aboard a KC-135 Stratotanker with the 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, the video below shows United Arab Emirates F-16 Block 60+ Desert Falcons refueling during a mission in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the US-led coalition’s air war on ISIS in Syria and Iraq, on Dec. 16, 2016.
The clip includes some rare close-up footage that provides interesting details about the payload of the world’s most advanced F-16s flown by the UAE Air Force in the anti-Daesh campaign.
There appear to be two configurations (both featuring CFTs, Sniper targeting pod and two drops tanks): the first one, includes 2x AIM-9M Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and 2x GBU-12 LGBs (Laser Guided Bombs), whereas the pilot wears the JHMCS (Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System); the second one shows the Desert Falcons with 2x AIM-120B AMRAAMs (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles) and 4x Mk-82 or BLU-111A/B “dumb bombs” (although they can’t be easily identified, hence they could also be Joint Direct Attack Munitions…).
Both F-16s seem to wear the national flag on the tail: in 2015, two F-16 Block 60 deployed to Jordan to support the anti-ISIS air war without the UAE flag, something we explained with their participation in the air strikes on Islamist militias in Libya in 2014.
Since 2005, the UAE Air Force operates the Block 60 F-16E/F a variant dubbed “Desert Falcon” described as “the most advanced F-16 variant in the world” for being equipped with a Northrop Grumman AN/APG-80 AESA (active electronically scanned antenna) radar.
Considered “a half-generation ahead of the F-16 C/D Block 50/52+” the Block 60s, that the UAE Air Force has also flown in 2011’s Libya Air War, are also equipped with Northrop Grumman’s AN/ASQ-32 IFTS (Internal FLIR Targeting System) that is coupled up with the FLIR sensor on top of the nose in front of the cockpit, and with an Electronic Warfare that includes the Northrop Grumman Falcon Edge Integrated Electronic Warfare Suite Radar Warning Receiver and the AN/ALQ-165 Self-Protection Jammer.
Video at link
UAE fighters are more advanced that ours? I guess they have the $$ to pay for it.
bookmarking for later
Not sure why, exactly.
Any y'all got an idea?
Easy answer. They bribe our politicians.
“Not sure why, exactly.
Any y’all got an idea? “
Iran.
“UAE fighters are more advanced that ours? I guess they have the $$ to pay for it.”
The US is phasing F-16’s out. They are being replaced by the F-35A which is not the one that had all the problems.
Looks like they have extended range fuel tanks too?
At 2:34 the outboard rocket to the extreme left has something out of alignment on the nose. What is it?
Was the video real time? ie did each plane re-fuel that quickly?
looks like the Israeli F-16I
Go Guard!
Iran is a very serious threat to the gulf states.
Conformal fuel tanks.
I don’t know. Sorry - I am not an Ordie.
It doesn’t matter how advanced their fighter planes may be, Arabs/Moose Limbs are inbred half-wits and are incapable of operating the aircraft to the full potential.
Feel free to look it up for yourself. It’s a proven scientific fact that 1000 years of inbreeding has made the Middle-East (not including Israel of course) a land of retards with an average IQ of 80 - 85.
Tasked with drawing the bottom view of the f-16 engine at half scale on the drafting board many years ago, the f-16 has always impressed me. I saw a film of a pilot dead-sticking a f-16 in because of a broken elbow on the fuel pump. Lesson learned over my career, never put an elbow on the discharge side of a pump. I used a b-52 pump in a ground installation of an exotic fuel system once, I bet it’s still working. The f-16 is probably the most valuable aircraft we have in this country for defense of the realm. After 911, one repeatedly passed over me while I was deer hunting, using me as a ground marker in my bright orange vest, shrieking that bird at near sound breaking level. He dipped his wing over me at every pass. His presence was comforting and command of his airspace was evident. It is a mistake to get rid of them.
Our Air Force officers refused to upgrade our F-16s to the newer standards because it would have ‘distracted’ from the F-35. We’re likely going to be paying the price for not upgrading real soon now, I think.
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