AN advanced combat jet that Bahrain is set to receive is preparing for its first test flight early next year.
The F-16 Block 70 aircraft is being supplied to the Royal Bahrain Air Force (RBAF) by Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corporation.
It is part of a larger $1.12 billion deal signed in 2018 under which the security and aerospace company was contracted by the US government to manufacture 16 F-16 fighter jets for Bahrain.
The pending paint work on the combat jet has been complete at the Greenville facility in South Carolina.
“Lockheed Martin is proud to announce the first F-16 Block 70 jet has completed the Final Assembly and Checkout (FACO) and paint phases at our production facility in Greenville, South Carolina,” said Lockheed Martin’s Integrated Fighter Group vice president and general manager O J Sanchez.
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“The jet is now preparing for its first flight, which we anticipate will occur by early next year.”
The F-16 Block 70 incorporates new features such as advanced avionics, a proven Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar, a modernised cockpit, advanced weapons, an advanced engine and a structural service life of 12,000 hours.
It also features an automatic ground collision avoidance system.
The first jet will be delivered to the US government in the first quarter of 2023, following the flight test at Edwards Air Force Base.
“This first F-16 Block 70 jet is for Bahrain, and we have multiple other jets in work including for Slovakia and Bulgaria.
“The production rate will increase significantly throughout 2023,” stated the official.
RBAF commander Major General Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla Al Khalifa told Breaking Defence, a digital defence magazine, on the sidelines of the Bahrain International Air Show 2022 that they will receive the first batch of four F-16 Block 70 aircraft by the first half of 2024, following a Covid-19-related delay.
He added that the deliveries of the 16 contracted fighter jets will take place in batches of four until 2025.
In addition to flight training, Lockheed Martin will also provide F-16 maintenance training to fully support all aspects of the aircraft.
The GDN reported earlier this year that Bahraini pilots would receive similar training simulators for national defence missions.
More than 4,500 F-16s have so far been produced, with approximately 3,000 F-16s operating currently in 25 countries, including with the US Air Force.
Globally, the F-16s have flown an estimated 19.5 million flight hours and conducted more than 13m sorties. Bahrain F-16 jets have taken part in the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve launched in 2014 along with more than 70 coalition partners against the Islamic State in Iraq.
sandy@gdnmedia.bh
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