According to the plan, about 55 older Hornets will be retired until next year to replace them with the newest model of the F/A-18. One problem is to keep enough fighters in service, which is why the Air Force Fighting Falcons will serve temporarily with the Navy, reported Military.
Such a measure will lessen the maintenance cost of its older fleet and keep its adversary capacity. Although the exact number of the F-16s is not mentioned, most of the planes will be transferred from the Air National Guard units, noted Seapower Magazine.
Fighting Falcons will serve in aggressor squadrons
Capable aircraft must provide Navy pilots with excellent training acting as enemies in all aspects of combat flying. US fighter pilots have the best training available, close to actual aerial combat with using live weapons.
The focus is on lessening the USN fighter force and has more Super Hornets, F-35 JSF, and the future F/A-XX as next-generation fighters. An add-on will be using robotic drone wingmen as applied new technology.
One argument is whether the future fighter is a crewed plane or a semi-autonomous drone flyer. In addition, the US Navy will get Air Force F-16 fighters as options to fill in the inventory gap.
Top Gun school
The Navy had used F-16s, but a total of 26 specialized Navy versions; these were 22-single seaters and four two-seater variants from 1988 and 1998 for aggressor training. When the N models were retired, about 14 F-16s should have been for the Pakistani air force in the 2000s.
A Naval Topgun school still uses these planes at the Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada. The number of fighter jets and attack aircraft it maintains will be less. The Air Force says the F-16 has a role in its active squadrons.
According to Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration, and requirements, its most recent upgraded block [F-16s] will continue to fly for some time.
Hinote mentioned in an interview earlier this month that the Air Force will evaluate what types of roles or mission sets sound right for the F-16 as a multirole aircraft, including homeland defense, or if the newer aircraft can be upgraded in the long term.
The Air Force Magazine said the service would introduce the Multirole Fighter-X, or MR-X, program sometime within this decade. It will be included in the service's inventory mostly in the mid-2030s.
What is next?
Several things can happen to make the F-16s serve in the MR-X role but if providing upgrades is not cost-effective, that could lead to a ground-up design instead.
This design will be for homeland defense and not based on a high-end conflict, 5th generation aircraft, or more. Therefore, it should not feature stealth as a prime characteristic of any advanced technology.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles "CQ" Brown said it should be better than the Fighting Falcon or the Viper variant for a multi-mission plane. Both Hinote and Brown emphasize the advantages of the plane. It is cheaply maintained and built more efficiently -- from digital design, the blueprint, to actual aircraft. It can also be upgraded over a long period of time in the future.
The US Navy will get Air Force F-16 fighters as a temporary measure until the needed planes are ready.
Related article: US Air Force Wants a 4.5 or 5th Gen close to F-35, F-21 for India
