Upgraded F-16 to 2040? Would the F-16 be Useful in a War Against China?

By Logan Williams, Warrior Editorial Fellow

In an ideal world, the United States’ Air Force would be able to complete a full overhaul of the USAF fighter jet arsenal, retiring F-16 jets at the same steady, rapid rate as it acquired new F-35s to replace them. However, in the real world, F-35s have a much higher unit cost than F-16s, and likely take a great deal longer to manufacture.

It is for these reasons that the United States’ Air Force has announced its intent to continue fielding F-16s, for at least the next two decades. However, little details have been given as to what role the F-16 will play, particularly with the possibility of a war with the People’s Republic of China — nor has their been much discussion of what role the F-16 is even capable of filling.

The United States’ fleet of F-16s have undergone a significant retrofit, to ensure that the platform remains combat relevant in a fifth-generation fighter jet world.

The F-16 Service Life Extension Program has provided the F-16 with the Northrup Grunman APG-83 AESA radar system, which was derived from the radar systems designed by Northrup Grunman for the F-22 and the F-35, giving the F-16 robust fifth-generation capabilities, while maintaining the fourth generation air-frame.

Additionally, the F-16 was provided with a new electronic warfare (EW) component, called Viper Shield, which is designed to identify and defend against the ever-changing threats in the EW realm, such as radar jammers, and it is intended to perpetrate offensive EW countermeasures of its own.

Amongst these major upgrades is the addition of several artificial intelligence-based features, taken from the F-22 and the F-35 platforms, including a cutting-edge Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS), which allows the plane to automatically seize controls if it detects that a crash is imminent, such as if the pilot loses consciousness in the cockpit.

Additionally, the F-16 upgrades incorporate AI in the form of predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance AI utilizes the available data from previous F-16 machine failures, which is made available through centralized data storage, to predict the conditions under which certain mechanisms might fail. Predictive maintenance AI allows aircraft maintainers to perform essential services prior to a component failing, ensuring that surprise malfunctions do not take aircraft out of the fight for long. In addition, if a pilot is about to attempt a maneuver in the cockpit, and other F-16s have experienced malfunctions during that maneuver in the past, the AI can warn the pilot to be on the lookout for warning signs, to be prepared to perform damage control, or to avoid the maneuver altogether. This helps to keep the USAF’s most essential and irreplaceable weapon, a human pilot, safe.