General Dynamics F 1. Fighting Falcon. The General Dynamics F 1. Fighting Falcon is a single engine supersonicmultirolefighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics now Lockheed Martin for the United States Air Force USAF. Designed as an air superiorityday fighter, it evolved into a successful all weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,5. 00 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1. Cannon Beach Real Estate and Homes for sale, specializing in vacation rentals, beach rentals, real estate and property management. Although no longer being purchased by the U. Recover My Files 2.12'>Recover My Files 2.12. S. Air Force, improved versions are still being built for export customers. In 1. General Dynamics sold its aircraft manufacturing business to the Lockheed Corporation,5 which in turn became part of Lockheed Martin after a 1. Martin Marietta. 6The Fighting Falcons key features include a frameless bubble canopy for better visibility, side mounted control stick to ease control while maneuvering, a seat reclined 3. The F 1. 6 has an internal M6. Falcon View Map Software' title='Falcon View Map Software' />Vulcan cannon and 1. The F 1. 6s official name is Fighting Falcon, but Viper is commonly used by its pilots and crews, due to a perceived resemblance to a viper snake as well as the Colonial Viperstarfighter on Battlestar Galactica. In addition to active duty for U. S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, and Air National Guard units, the aircraft is also used by the USAF aerial demonstration team, the U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds, and as an adversaryaggressor aircraft by the United States Navy. The F 1. 6 has also been procured to serve in the air forces of 2. As of 2. 01. 5, it is the worlds second most numerous military aircraft and the most numerous airplane in service. DevelopmenteditLightweight Fighter programeditExperiences in the Vietnam War revealed the need for air superiority fighters and better air to air training for fighter pilots. Based on his experiences in the Korean War and as a fighter tactics instructor in the early 1. Colonel John Boyd with mathematician Thomas Christie developed the Energymaneuverability theory to model a fighter aircrafts performance in combat. Boyds work called for a small, lightweight aircraft that could maneuver with the minimum possible energy loss, and which also incorporated an increased thrust to weight ratio. In the late 1. 96. Boyd gathered a group of like minded innovators that became known as the Fighter Mafia and in 1. Department of Defense funding for General Dynamics and Northrop to study design concepts based on the theory. Criteria A2bcde3cde4bcde Click here for more information about the Red List categories and criteria Justification of Red. Air Force F X proponents remained hostile to the concept because they perceived it as a threat to the F 1. However, the Air Forces leadership understood that its budget would not allow it to purchase enough F 1. The Advanced Day Fighter concept, renamed F XX, gained civilian political support under the reform minded Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard, who favored the idea of competitive prototyping. As a result, in May 1. Air Force Prototype Study Group was established, with Boyd a key member, and two of its six proposals would be funded, one being the Lightweight Fighter LWF. The Request for Proposals issued on 6 January 1. Mach 0. 61. 6 and altitudes of 3. This was the region where USAF studies predicted most future air combat would occur. The anticipated average flyaway cost of a production version was 3 million. This production plan, though, was only notional as the USAF had no firm plans to procure the winner. Finalists selected and flyoffedit. A right side view of a YF 1. Northrop YF 1. 7, each armed with AIM 9 Sidewinder missiles. Five companies responded and in 1. Air Staff selected General Dynamics Model 4. Northrops P 6. 00 for the follow on prototype development and testing phase. GD and Northrop were awarded contracts worth 3. YF 1. 6 and YF 1. To overcome resistance in the Air Force hierarchy, the Fighter Mafia and other LWF proponents successfully advocated the idea of complementary fighters in a high costlow cost force mix. The highlow mix would allow the USAF to be able to afford sufficient fighters for its overall fighter force structure requirements. The mix gained broad acceptance by the time of the prototypes flyoff, defining the relationship of the LWF and the F 1. The YF 1. 6 was developed by a team of General Dynamics engineers led by Robert H. Widmer. 2. 1 The first YF 1. December 1. 97. 3, and its 9. Air Force Flight Test Center AFFTC at Edwards AFB, California, on 2 February 1. Its actual first flight occurred accidentally during a high speed taxi test on 2. January 1. 97. 4. While gathering speed, a roll control oscillation caused a fin of the port side wingtip mounted missile and then the starboard stabilator to scrape the ground, and the aircraft then began to veer off the runway. The test pilot, Phil Oestricher, decided to lift off to avoid a potential crash, safely landing six minutes later. The slight damage was quickly repaired and the official first flight occurred on time. The YF 1. 6s first supersonic flight was accomplished on 5 February 1. YF 1. 6 prototype first flew on 9 May 1. This was followed by the first flights of Northrops YF 1. June and 2. 1 August 1. During the flyoff, the YF 1. YF 1. 7s flew 2. Air Combat Fighter competitioneditIncreased interest would turn the LWF into a serious acquisition program. Ansys Software For Windows 7 32 Bit Torrents. North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO allies Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway were seeking to replace their F 1. G Starfighterfighter bombers. In early 1. 97. 4, they reached an agreement with the U. S. that if the USAF ordered the LWF winner, they would consider ordering it as well. The USAF also needed to replace its F 1. Thunderchief and F 4 Phantom II fighter bombers. The U. S. Congress sought greater commonality in fighter procurements by the Air Force and Navy, and in August 1. Navy funds to a new Navy Air Combat Fighter NACF program that would be a navalized fighter bomber variant of the LWF. The four NATO allies had formed the Multinational Fighter Program Group MFPG and pressed for a U. S. decision by December 1. USAF accelerated testing. To reflect this serious intent to procure a new fighter bomber, the LWF program was rolled into a new Air Combat Fighter ACF competition in an announcement by U. S. Secretary of Defense. James R. Schlesinger in April 1. The ACF would not be a pure fighter, but multi role, and Schlesinger made it clear that any ACF order would be in addition to the F 1. LWF. 2. 62. 72. ACF also raised the stakes for GD and Northrop because it brought in competitors intent on securing what was touted at the time as the arms deal of the century. These were Dassault Breguets proposed Mirage F1. M 5. 3, the Anglo French SEPECAT Jaguar, and the proposed Saab 3. E Eurofighter. Northrop offered the P 5. Cobra, which was similar to the YF 1. The Jaguar and Cobra were dropped by the MFPG early on, leaving two European and the two U. S. candidates. On 1. September 1. 97. 4, the U. S. Air Force confirmed plans to order the winning ACF design to equip five tactical fighter wings. Though computer modeling predicted a close contest, the YF 1. On 1. 3 January 1. Secretary of the Air Force. John L. Mc. Lucas announced the YF 1. ACF competition. 3. The chief reasons given by the Secretary were the YF 1. YF 1. 7, especially at supersonic speeds. Another advantage of the YF 1. Driver Sigmatel High Definition Audio Codec Windows 7. YF 1. 7 was its use of the Pratt Whitney F1. F 1. 5 such commonality would lower the cost of engines for both programs.