Ex Block 60
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-uaes-f-16-block-60-desert-falcon-fleet-04538/
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29897/heres-what-the-ball-on-the-nose-of-uaes-block-60-f-16e-f-desert-falcon-does
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-uaes-f-16-block-60-desert-falcon-fleet-04538/
QuoteThe most advanced F-16s in the world arenââ,¬â,,¢t American. That distinction belongs to the UAE, whose F-16 E/F Block 60s are a half-generation ahead of the F-16 C/D Block 50/52+ aircraft that form the backbone of the US Air Force, and of many other fleets around the world. The Block 60 has been described as a lower-budget alternative to the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, and thereââ,¬â,,¢s a solid argument to be made that their performance figures and broad sensor array will even keep them ahead of pending F-16 modernizations in countries like Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore.
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Block 60: Political Issues
In the course of development, 2 key issues came up with respect to the F-16 Block 60. One was the familiar issue of source code control for key avionics and electronic warfare systems. The other was weapons carriage.
As a rule, the software source codes that program the electronic-warfare, radar, and data buses on US fighters are too sensitive for export. Instead, the USA sent the UAE ââ,¬Å"object codesââ,¬Â (similar to APIs), which allow them to add to the F-16ââ,¬â,,¢s threat library on their own.
The other issue concerned the Black Shahine derivative of MBDAââ,¬â,,¢s Storm Shadow external link stealth cruise missile. The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) defines 300 km as the current limit for cruise missiles, and the terms of the sale allow the United States to regulate which weapons the F-16s can carry. Since the Black Shahine was deemed to have a range of over 300 km, the US State Department refused to let Lockheed Martin change the data bus to permit the F-16E/Fs to carry the missile.
The Mirage 2000-9 upgrades that the UAE developed with France addressed this issue, giving the UAE a platform capable of handling their new acquisition. As of 2013, UAE F-16E/F fighters will finally receive the SLAM-ER precision attack missile, giving them the shorter-range but very accurate strike capabilities.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29897/heres-what-the-ball-on-the-nose-of-uaes-block-60-f-16e-f-desert-falcon-does
QuoteThe F-16E/F is an F-16, but it is one unlike any other F-16 variant in the world. The aircraft is more of a redevelopment of sorts the F-16 than just another incremental upgrade. Originally, when the program spun up in the 1990s, with an order eventually being placed for 80 advanced F-16s in 1998, the aircraft was going to be an even more drastic redesign of the F-16, similar to how Japan's F-2 fighter came to be, but with a large delta wing and other aerodynamic tweaks.
That ambitious concept was jettisoned in favor of drastically enhancing the Block 50/52 F-16C/D Viper. In the end, just developing the F-16E/F cost the UAE a whopping $3B, with the first jet taking to the skies in December of 2003. Years of testing and training would follow, with the first aircraft delivered to the UAE beginning in May of 2005. In total, the force consists of 55 single-seat F-16Es and 25 two-seat F-16Fs, the latter of which include fully missionized rear cockpits. Now very mature, the F-16E/F fleet is already undergoing a series of upgrades.
The Block 60 includes a load of enhancements. It has conformal fuel tanks like some of its late-block predecessors, but its F110-GE-132 General Electric turbofan puts out 32,000lbs of thrust. That's 3,000lbs more than the Block 50's F110-GE-129. It was built with Northrop Grumman's AN/APG-80 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system, which was at the time of introduction into service, and still is, incredibly capable. You can read about the benefits of fighter-sized AESAs in this past piece of ours, but for the F-16, which is something of the hallmark of multi-role fighters, being able to perform multiple modes, such as air-to-air and air-to-ground, simultaneously and seamlessly equals a massive leap in capability and situational awareness.
The jet also has an advanced defensive countermeasures and situational awareness system called the Falcon Edge Integrated Electronic Warfare Suite (IEWS). It includes an active jamming system and passive electronic support measures that provide enhanced situational awareness of radio-frequency threats in the jet's vicinity. It can geolocate those threats and allow the F-16E/F to rapidly target them with precision-guided munitions. It has no less than eight expendable countermeasure dispensers that are tied into its self-defense system and it is also capable of controlling towed fiber-optic decoys. It isn't perfectly clear, but the Block 60 appears to have been built with a missile approach warning system, or at least the ability to be fitted with one, as well.
The Block 60's cockpit was also a big upgrade over the Block 50/52. Three large flat panel displays replace the old smaller multi-function and analog display layout. A wide-angle HUD with holographic video projection capability is also fitted. The rear cockpits of the F models are built for two-crew combat operations, with displays and interfaces to support it. Advanced data links and highly-secure, beyond-line-of-sight communications systems are also installed on these jets, as well. The Desert Falcon was built with a new and greatly improved environmental control system (ECS) to reliably cool all these electrical systems even in the extreme desert heat.
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