Boeing and the US Air Force completed the first unmanned QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target flight on Sept. 19 at Tyndall Air Force Base, demonstrating the next generation of combat training and testing
Boeing has retrofitted retired Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons to turn them into Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The first such machine that had been mothballed for 15 years, was successfully test flown in September this year from a base in Florida to the Gulf of Mexico. The aircraft flew at an altitude of 40,000ft, attained a speed of Mach 1.47 (1,800km/h) and clocked 7Gs of acceleration. The unmanned F-16 was followed by two chase planes to ensure it stayed in sight and also carried a self-destruct mechanism if it became necessary.
According to Boeing, the company had a total of six modified F-16s, which have been renamed QF-16s and that the US military now planned to use some of them in live fire tests. The innovation could ultimately be used to help train pilots by providing an adversary they could practise firing on. This is the second time that a jet fighter aircraft in the US has been retrofitted to fly without a pilot inside, the first time being F4-Phantoms for target practice. Analysts believe that these machines could become a test-bed for drone warfare, moving us closer to automated killing.
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