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| First Flew F-16 Viper Fighter Jet, Bahrain's First Order Fighter Unit |
International Military - The F-16 Block 70 fighter jet, known as the Viper, has made its first flight. This was announced by Lockheed Martin as the aircraft manufacturer on January 24, 2023.
The F-16 Viper made its maiden flight over Greenville, South Carolina in approximately 50 minutes. The aircraft was flown by company test pilots Dwayne “Pro” Opella and Monessa “Siren” Balzhiser. During the maiden flight, the pilot checked the airworthiness of the aircraft, such as checking the engine, flight control, fuel system and basic aircraft handling.
The F-16 Viper fighter jet is the first of 16 aircraft ordered by Bahrain. Apart from Bahrain, six other countries have selected Block 70/72 aircraft. Lockheed Martin currently has a backlog of 128 F-16 Block 70/72 orders.
The F-16 Viper is equipped with a new high-resolution Center Pedestal Display (CPD). This device provides critical tactical imagery for pilots allowing them to take full advantage of the AESA radar and guidance data pod. The new CPD allows for color moving maps, a larger and easier air-to-air view of the situation, a zoom function, and a helmet-mounted color/night display.
Block 70/72 also has an extended structural service life of up to 12,000 hours, more than 50 percent over the previous production F-16 aircraft. The aircraft's new advanced APG-83 AESA radar provides increased situational awareness, flexibility and faster all-weather targeting.
Lockheed said the APG-83 provides the F-16 with 5th generation combat radar capability, taking advantage of hardware and software similarities to the AESA radars of the F-22 and F-35.
This AESA radar is being integrated with a new internal active and passive electronic warfare system (Viper Shield) which is also integrated with a new digital Radar Warning Receiver (DRWR).