Description

416 FLTS MLU F-16 Falcon Model

Fly with the 416 FLTS MLU in this hand crafted F-16 Falcon Model. Each model is carved from wood and hand painted to provide a unique piece that will always be treasured.

• Length – 18 inches
• Made from Mahogany
• US Veteran-Owned Business
• Officially Licensed by Lockheed Martin
• The product is not intended to be used by children 12 years and younger.

LOCKHEED MARTIN, F-16 Fighting Falcon, associated emblems and logos, and body designs of vehicles are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Lockheed Martin Corporation in the USA and/or other jurisdictions, used under license by Squadron Nostalgia LLC.

The 416th Flight Test Squadron is a United States Air Force squadron. It is assigned to the 412th Operations Group, Air Force Materiel Command, stationed at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

During World War II, the 416th Bombardment Squadron was a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress squadron, assigned to the 99th Bombardment Group of Fifteenth Air Force. It earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for its performance in combat.

The squadron was reactivated for flight testing of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon in 1989, after an inactivity of 43 years. The unit inherited the role of the 6516th TS that was also based at Edwards AFB. As the 6516th, the 416th was tasked with testing different weapon systems and specialized equipment on the F-16 in different production versions (blocks).

Weapons testing forms only a small part of the unit’s task. Most weapons testing is conducted together with the Eglin AFB based testing squadrons. Some F-16s are painted in a regular gray USAF scheme for weapons testing, but other color schemes are used, such as white aircraft with red tails and ventral fins. These aircraft are often used as chase planes for other aircraft test programs.

A variety of 416th F-16s are used to chase F-22s and F-35s. These aircraft are also relocated to other airbases all over the country, mostly going to Eglin AFB for testing assistance or to Fort Worth JRB for assistance to the Lockheed F-35 program.

An F-16 from the 416 FLTS participates in a Red Flag Exercise at Nellis Air Force Base in February 2009.
In the 1990s the 416th helped in the development of the MLU upgrade package for older (mainly European NATO countries’) F-16A/B models. The USAF eventually didn’t get involved in the production process but did provide test aircraft #80-584 for this purpose. It is still flying with the squadron to test further enhancement packages for both MLU Vipers as for the USAF CCIP program

In the 1990s the 416th led the flight test effort in the development of the AN/ASQ-213 HARM Targeting System. The performance of this interim solution was instrumental in the retirement of the F-4G Wild Weasel aircraft in the mid 1990s. The Air Force planned to replace the F-4G but the program was cancelled and the AN/ASQ-213 remains the primary F-16 SEAD mission sensor for the HARM missile more than 25 years later.

The unit briefly gained the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle test mission (2004-2005). The F-15 fleet was sent to Eglin Air Force Base when the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters arrived in 2006.[2]

During early 2009, the squadron deployed to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and participated in a Red Flag exercise. This was the first of this type of deployment for any Air Force Materiel Command unit. Red Flag 09-2 ran from 26 January to 6 February 2009. The reason for the deployment was to perform operational testing for the latest operating system M5.1+ software which is specific for the F-16. The squadron took five aircraft all equipped with this latest software and flew 54 sorties.