US Air Force F-16A/B deliveries

[Leerdam]

Guys,

I am puzzled by the number of USAF F-16A/B deliveries quoted by f-16.net .

http://www.f-16.net/f-16_users_article23.html states a total of 664 F-16A and 122 F-16B delivered, while the breakdown of block numbers actually add up to 672 F-16A and 124 F-16B (so, 10 less).

Adding 1,238 F-16C and 206 F-16D models, that would make a total of 2,240 a/c delivered to USAF, which would take the total number of F-16s produced (as of 1 December 2017) to 4.598 (10 airframes more than stated by LM). That can't be coincidence. Could there be a mess up with embargoed Pakistani airframes ?


Anyone intell on this?
Guus

[Hans van Herk]

According to my knowledge LM does not count the two YF-16As and the eight FSD aircraft in their overview.
Mainly because these aircraft do not have an official block number.

Regards,
Hans van Herk

[Leerdam]

Thanks Hans, that would explain it!

Cheers - Guus

[Joris Heeren]

Hi all,

the USAF situation is even somewhat more complicated. The actual number delivered may vary due to a number of factors.

Production for USAF is 2 YF-16's, 670 F-16A's (including 6 FSD), 123 F-16B's (including 2 FSD), 625 F-16C's (Block 25/30/32), 87 F-16D's (Block 25/30/32), 1 NF-16D VISTA, 384 F-16C's (Block 40/42), 78 F-16D's (Block 40/42), 231 F-16C's (Block 50/52), and 40 F-16D's (Block 50/52). That would make a grand total of 2241 airframes.

But, 1 F-16B was transferred to Egypt soon after delivery (getting a 9F- type/version ship number) which may explain the published number of 122 F-16B's delivered (BTW, also 1 F-16B destined for the KLu was transferred to Egypt with a 9F- TVSN). Also, the NF-16D may have left out of the generally accepted number of 2238 as it is an experimental aircraft. Or F-16C 90-0832 (CC-32) has been omitted from the numbers since it crashed during a pre-delivery test flight.

To my knowledge, total production of F-16's to date is 4598 which includes the two prototypes.

HTH,
Joris