Did the f-16 carry th e aim-7 in the gulf war?
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@Reaperdog1 said in Did the f-16 carry th e aim-7 in the gulf war?:
https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104575/aim-7-sparrow/
@Reaperdog1 said in Did the f-16 carry th e aim-7 in the gulf war?:
https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104575/aim-7-sparrow/
This fact sheet is too inaccurate an vague for any use. The first F-16 with AIM-7 capability was the ADF variant. Were launch test in the 70s with AIM-7, but the radar, the AN/APG-66 simply did not have the features to provide the CW or quasi CW illumination for the AIM-7F. The AIM-7M arrived only from 1982 and it had more than one main guidance mode.
The F-16s outside the ANG and ADF variant were not AIM-7 capable.
Period.
The current post 2000 export F-16s had this capability because of the AN/APG-68 and export restrictions. It had to be provided at least something because many operators (Iraq, Egypt) could not get the AIM-120. -
Yeah Molni has it basically there - the first ADF was delivered in 1989.
On the F-16 having no Sparrow until 1989 I have to go with 3 different people who were part of the F-16 development in the 1970s who say politics ( F-15 related).
With no requirement for AIM-7, Westinghouse left the CW module off as a future growth provision.General Dynamics guessed that someone would want AIM-7 down the road so did their own unguided separation testing (as in the video above) using a YF-16 that had no FCR.
AMRAAM was supposed to be in service 1985/86 but was very delayed…a senate hearing from the late 80s does mention they were waiting for AMRAAM and not going to put AIM-7 on as a band aid measure.
The ADF on the other hand had a specific requirement for AIM-7 as part of its Air defence mission so the APG-66 was given the CW module for them.
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So many non-test aircraft on internet…
I am even sure that upgraded aircraft who had AIM-7 capability still have it.
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@Radium
Top one is a ROCAF Block 20 - one of the ones they kept at Luke AFB - manufactured and delivered from around 1996/1997.
The ADF and the block 20 being the only A/B versions with the APG-66 that used the Sparrow that I have seen operational photos of. -
I bet you didn’t knew this one :
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@Radium
I don’t for certain … I would have said only Sparrow was launched from that position because the reason to launch from those mockup pylons was supposedly because it represented the most challenging launch case for the missile.I have even seen people label that as part of the July 1979 Skyflash trials but not something I have followed up.
to add…
When they changed the pylons on the wing probably during the FSD stage the clearance for that location was gone anyway.
General Dynamics did some early brochures before the flight tests showing intention for AIM-7 to go there. But from what i was told the pylons were pure mockup…there was no intention to integrate them in anyway by that time.
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Hello, from the lastest information I had, AIM-7 sparrow integration on F-16C/APG-68 started in October 1989 with a first shoot from an Eglin F-16C. 12 nm was achieved at 30,000ft. Source is Lockheed-Martin.
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@Radium
General Dynamics funded C/D integration themselves …….guess they saw export potential.
However there is a Lockheed source that suggests the capability was not fully ready until 1992 on C/D. -
@Migbuster that’s very possible. Budget mostly went to AMRAAM !
