Boeing and the U.S. Air Force carried out the first aerial shoot down of the QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target (FSAT) over the Gulf of Mexico o...
The QF-16 is a reusable supersonic aerial target developed by Boeing by modifying retired F-16 fighter jets. Boeing was awarded the Phase I multi-year contract in March 2010 for initial engineering, manufacturing and development of the QF-16.
This test marked the conclusion of operational and range qualification testing at both the Eglin Test Range and White Sands Missile Range.
The unmanned QF-16 performed an auto-takeoff from Tyndall AFB and was targeted by air-to-air missiles launched by a Boeing F-15 fighter over the gulf test range.
This successful final operational test validated the QF-16's capability to assess the end game performance of weapons employed against it, and closes out the development phase of the program, according to an official at Eglin AFB's testing division.
The 4th generation QF-16 with better manueverability, will replace the Vietnam era QF-4 Phantoms which has now limited capabilities against modern fighters.
The QF-16 can mimick a fourth generation fighter like the Su-30, Mig-29 etc, and help fighter pilots sharpen their aerial combat skills and also support development of new generation missiles.
QF-16 Chief Engineer, Paul Cejas, said “The QF-16’s mission is really to act as a target and validate weapons systems. So, we do have a scoring system on the airplane and its job is to tell us basically how close the missile came and its trajectory.”
The additional hardware Boeing installs allows the QF-16 to fly unmanned 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.
Sofar, Boeing has modified six F-16s to fly unmanned and expects a total of 210 airframe convertion by 2022.
