The US Air Force has long flown QF-4s, with the Q designation indicating that the aircraft is a “drone.”  The drones are still sometimes flown by a pilot in the cockpit, but are modified to be able to be flown unmanned, with control coming from a ground control station.  They are used as targets for various missions, often testing of air-to-air missiles and radar systems.  Though there are generally safeguards to protect the drone (it is expensive, after all), drones do occasionally get shot down (and that is also sometimes the objective).

Apparently, a “dwindling supply” of QF-4s (and also a shrinking supply of parts to keep them flying) has inspired the Air Force to now begin turning F-16s into drones.  Boeing has reported the award of a the first part of a $69 million contract to convert 126 aircraft, reportedly from the boneyard, to QF-16 “Full Scale Aerial Targets,” aka “drones.”

In theory, the F-16 will be “easier” to convert than older aircraft, as it already has a computer-controlled, fly-by-wire flight control system, as opposed to the mechanical stick-and-rudder of the F-4 and prior airframes.

The QF-16s will apparently be the US Air Force’s newest “RPVs.”