Boeing Completes 1st Flight Of QF-16 Aerial Target For US Air Force

On 22 April 2010, the first F-16 to be
converted to an aerial target arrived at Boeing’s facility at
Cecil Field, Jacksonville, Florida. Six F-16s will be modified
during the development phase, as prototypes for engineering
tests and evaluation. From 2014, up to 126 QF-16 drones will be
created.

The Air Force awarded a multi-year contract
to Boeing in March 2010 that represented Phase I of the initial
engineering, manufacturing and development of the QF-16, with
options to buy up to 126 FSATs.

“With this successful first flight of the
QF-16, the Air Force, Boeing and our supplier-partners have laid
the groundwork for the program to enter low-rate production in
2013 and make its first production delivery in 2014,” said
Torbjorn Sjogren, Boeing vice president, Global Maintenance and
Upgrades.

The functional check flight of the F-16, under control of a
Boeing test pilot, validated the basic aircraft performance with
the QF-16 drone modification package installed. The additional
hardware Boeing installs allows the QF-16 to fly in an unmanned
mode while under the control of a ground-based control system
such as the Gulf Range Drone Control System (GRDCS) at Tyndall
Air Force Base, Fla., or the Drone Formation Control System
(DFCS) at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), N.M.

Article source: http://avstop.com/May_2012/boeing_completes_1st_flight_of_qf_16_aerial_target_for_us_air_force.htm

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