Older models of the F-16 have been made into target drones for a couple of years now. Just recently, however, a QF-16 was reprogrammed to fly autonomously and attack a ground target.
Not only that, but the programmed F-16 responded to a threat on the way into the target and then continued to the target: Read more
An F-16 pilot from Tyndall AFB was killed last Thursday morning when his jet crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.
The pilot was civilian Matthew LaCourse, a retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel and 1978 US Air Force Academy graduate. LaCourse was a part of the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron, which is the unit fielding the pilotless QF-16s as full-scale drones. He had previously topped 2,000 hours in the F-4/QF-4, which preceded the QF-16.
As with all mishaps, Read more
After it just recently served as a surface-to-air target for the first time, the Air Force announced the first successful downing of the pilotless QF-16 drone:
The first unmanned QF-16 Viper struck down over the Gulf of Mexico Sept. 5 was part of a joint effort between the Test and Training Division at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and the 82nd Aerial Target Squadron here at Tyndall.
The QF-16 is slated to eventually replace the current QF-4 full-scale drones. Read more
The QF-16 has been in testing for some time, but just recently flew its first official sortie as an aerial target for a test surface to air missile.
Video from Boeing:
Update: Now covered at AF.mil and the Air Force Times.
Forget Google’s driverless car. Boeing made a pilotless fighter.
In what is at times both amazing and creepy, an F-16 modified into a drone configuration — now designated QF-16 — took to the air last week for the first time with no human inside it:
Boeing Test Pilot Jason Clements recently announced to his “fellow Viper drivers” that the beginning of an era is at hand — and the F-16 community will soon see their planes take to the air without pilots.
Clements is part of a team that has been converting F-16s to QF-16s, or pilotless drones. He recently rode in the cockpit as a passenger for the entire sortie, never once touching the controls.
The QF-4 has long filled this role — so long, in fact, they need to be replaced. This will apparently be the first time the US Air Force has turned an aircraft into drones while it was still fielded operationally. In other words, it is conceivable that an F-16 pilot will get to shoot down a QF-16 — a feat heretofore unheard of.
The first “no pilot” QF-16 sortie is scheduled for Friday the 13th, next week.
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The first QF-16 — an F-16 modified to be used as a target drone — has arrived at Tyndall AFB for testing.
The QF-16 is a supersonic reusable full-scale aerial target drone modified from an F-16 Fighting Falcon. At this time, the 53rd WEG uses QF-4s, made from 1960s F-4 Phantoms, to conduct their full-scale aerial target missions.
If the drone is put into production within a reasonable time, the QF-16 will mark the first time an active US Air Force combat airframe will be able to shoot down itself in training. Prior target drones — including the current QF-4s — were put into use after their active counterparts were retired.
According to an Air Force press release, an F-16 was intentionally blown up as part of an ongoing program to convert the F-16s to QF-16 target/drones. The explosion was apparently a part of the test of the “flight termination system,” or the kill switch that allows a controller to destroy a wayward unmanned vehicle. (Perhaps one flying into DC’s airspace?)
The first QF-16 is scheduled to be delivered in 2014. The QF-16 will replace the QF-4, the third generation full-scale aerial target drone.