A famous and well used “hot rod” of the U.S. Air Forces of the NATO countries has received a new, darker single color paint scheme.
This week the Air National Guard Paint Facility in Sioux City, Iowa rolled out a uniquely painted U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon, recently completed for the Texas Air National Guard’s 149th Fighter Wing.
The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact, multi-role fighter aircraft. It is highly maneuverable and has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. It provides a relatively low-cost, high-performance weapon system for the United States and allied nations.
In an air combat role, the F-16’s maneuverability and combat radius (distance it can fly to enter air combat, stay, fight and return) exceed that of all potential threat fighter aircraft. It can locate targets in all weather conditions and detect low flying aircraft in radar ground clutter. In an air-to-surface role, the F-16 can fly more than 500 miles (860 kilometers), deliver its weapons with superior accuracy, defend itself against enemy aircraft, and return to its starting point. An all-weather capability allows it to accurately deliver ordnance during non-visual bombing conditions.
The new, single color paint scheme is a recent departure from the older two-tone grey paint scheme normally associated with F-16’s that belong to the United States Air Force.
The paint facility recently finished painting the F-16 for the San Antonio Based, Texas Air National Guard unit and the aircraft is now ready to return to its home at Joint Base San Antonio.
