US Air Force, EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — A test team from the Global Power Fighters Combined Test Force fired the newest variant of the AIM-9 Sidewinder, the X variant, for the first time from an F-16 Fighting Falcon here April 9.
The Sidewinder is a supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile carried by fighter aircraft. Before this, the AIM-9X had been fired only from F-15 Eagles and U.S. Navy F-18 Hornets.
The test mission is part of the F-16 M4-plus test project currently going on here. The project tests an improved avionics system that will be used to upgrade about 600 active-duty F-16 aircraft.
This was the first firing in a series of tests designed to clear the new variant for use on the F-16, said Capt. Chad Hale, 416th Flight Test Squadron operations engineer for the project. The initial flights are designed to validate the effects predicted by its contracted developer.
The team
Croatia gets French fighter jets in major arms purchase
Croatia took delivery Thursday of six Rafale fighter jets it has bought from France in the country's biggest arms purchase...