One of the objectives of the United States Air Force for the next few years is literally to modernize its entire fleet of combat aircraft. This implies discarding many aircraft that have become obsolete and cannot be updated, such as the famous ones. F-16 which, thanks to a new program they will get a second chance by becoming drones with which to carry out tests, among others, with the military program F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
The F-16s that, after a process of adaptation become drones, will in turn change their name to be known as QF-16, being the 'Q'added the military nomenclature by which the United States Air Force refers to unmanned aircraft. Among the necessary changes, it should be noted that more than 3.000 cables and the integrated flight control computer must be eliminated, leaving space to install a new autopilot.
The United States Air Force will give obscene F-16s a second chance by turning them into drones.
Boeing It will be the company in charge of converting the F-16 into drones, with 97 being the total number of units to be converted into drones. As a detail, as has been reported, the cost of transformation, research, development and equipment for each of the F-16s that must be converted to a drone amounts to 1.32 million. An expensive second chance that represents a very simple and interesting way to, for example, test the new weaponry that is in development.