European F-16 Experts wanted

[RAGATIGER]

Hi there

 

Well as part of some NATO aircraft detachments on Lithuania I wanted to do some F-16

 

So I wonder if all European F-16 are MLU and also if all have fuselage strengthen reinforcements??? 

 

• Royal Norwegian AF F-16 tails are with parachute or not then only ECM tail???
• Royal Nederlands AF F-16  tails are with parachute or not then only ECM tail???

 

Then I wonder about the weapons used???

 

Best day

 

Armando

[scotthldr]

Both Netherlands and Norwegian F-16 have the extended para brake housing, no ECM fit in tail. All European F-16 A/B's are now up to MLU standard and are more or less the same with exception of the Portuguese a/c which operated 45 of the type in a mix of Blk15OCU and Blk15 a/c, but only the latter 20 were updated to MLU.

 

Weapons for the Baltic Air Policing are 

 

Norwegian: AIM120 and IRIS-T with Sniper pod

Netherlands: AIM120 and AIM-9M

Portugal: AIM120 and AIM-9M with LITENING pod

 

As for the strengthening  plates, someone else will have to answer that one

 

[RobertF]

Nothing to add to Scott's answer, except that Dutch MLU modification did include adding the strengthening plates

[RAGATIGER]

2 hours ago, scotthldr said:

Both Netherlands and Norwegian F-16 have the extended para brake housing, no ECM fit in tail. All European F-16 A/B's are now up to MLU standard and are more or less the same with exception of the Portuguese a/c which operated 45 of the type in a mix of Blk15OCU and Blk15 a/c, but only the latter 20 were updated to MLU.

 

Weapons for the Baltic Air Policing are 

 

Norwegian: AIM120 and IRIS-T with Sniper pod

Netherlands: AIM120 and AIM-9M

Portugal: AIM120 and AIM-9M with LITENING pod

 

As for the strengthening  plates, someone else will have to answer that one

 

So then Scotthidr the Iris T use what kind of AIM rail the same one for the Aim-9 or the one for the AIM120???

 

Best day

 

Armando

[Vingtor]

Norwegian F-16s also have the strengthening plates.

 

The parachute housing was originally designed for the Norwegian Air Force. It was required for landing on short runways during icy conditions. It has since been adopted by other countries, and the same housing also used for ECM equipment.

 

Nils

[Hook]

10 hours ago, RAGATIGER said:

So then Scotthidr the Iris T use what kind of AIM rail the same one for the Aim-9 or the one for the AIM120???

 

IRIS-T uses the later LAU-129, as per AM-120: 

 

 

Also note the  ECIPS pylon at station 3 / 7.

 

HTH,

 

Andre 

[scotthldr]

Looking at various photos it would appear that from the countries listed above only the Dutch still use the older AIM-9 16S210 pylon.

 

Also the Belgians and Danish have carried out several rotations each to the Baltic region with their F-16AM's

[Jens]

The external strengthening plates were not part of the original MLU programme. They were added later during other upgrade programmes (Falcon Star perhaps), but might have been carried out while performing other MLU related upgrades. Main wheel bay bulkheads and wings have been strengthened too along the way.

 

The best thing - as always - would be to find a specific aircraft and timeframe to depict and then work from there. 

 

Jens

[exdraken]

just to be complete, 

 

also Poland somehow contributes to th Batic mission, using F-16C Block -52s with all bells and whistles and Aim-9X