On April 12, 2021, the 35th Fighter Squadron of the US Air Force stationed at , Misawa Air Force Base in , dispatched four F-16 fighter , and carried out live ammunition of air-to-air missiles in a very rare asymmetric mount method, and went to the northeast of China's South China Sea , and conducted joint training with the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier (CVN-71) formation that was operating there.
4 F-16CM leapfrog aircraft carrier formation
These four F-16 fighters are from the 13th "Leopard" fighter squadron of the 35th Fighter Wing, with aircraft numbers 90-802, 91-357, 91-399, and 92-912 respectively. Among them, aircraft 91-357 is suspected to be the wing captain of the 35th Fighter Wing. These F-16 are Block 50 batch single-seat F-16C fighter jets. They were informally called the F-16CJ in their early service. The main feature is that the AN/ASQ-213 command pod for radiation source positioning is installed on the left side of the intake duct, which is used to provide data support for the AGM-88 "Ham" anti-radiation missile and can carry out anti-radiation operations. Later, these F-16CJs increased the ability to mount the "sniper" optoelectronic pod on the right side of the intake channel, and modified the AN/APG-68V3 radar to improve overall performance, and the informal model was also changed to the F-16CM model accordingly.
AF91-357 Wing Captain landline
On April 12, these four F-16s took off from the Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa. Under the relay of four KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft , they flew southwest along the Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan Island , and then crossed the Bashi Channel and then flew with the USS Roosevelt aircraft carrier formation several times over the aircraft carrier formation to simulate air patrols. Two of them also carried out low-altitude crosses on the USS Roosevelt aircraft carrier. Then the planes returned to Kadena base , and after resting and landed at 3:00 pm on April 18 to refuel, and then took off at 5:00 to return to Misawa base .
AF90-802
. It is particularly noteworthy that these F-16CM fighters who are good at ground attacks carried live ammunition throughout this flight! Moreover, in this mission, each F-16CM will hang all 11 racks of the entire machine!
These F-16CM fighters perform this mission in a very rare mounting mode. In addition to the AN/ASQ-213 command pod on the left side of the intake channel and the "Sniper" photoelectric pod on the right, an AN/ALQ-184 electronic counterattack self-defense pod is also mounted on the hanger of the belly center line. At the same time, the standard sub-fuel tank is mounted on the inner hanger on the underwing to increase the range.
91-399 is landing, and the remaining six mounts of three AIM-120
under the wings are used to carry air-to-air missiles . Each aircraft is equipped with 5 AIM-120C-7 "Amram" active radar guided advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, as well as an AIM-9 "Saturday" infrared guided close-range air-to-air combat bomb. Three of them carry the latest AIM-9X, while the other carries the older AIM-9M. The entire formation carried a total of 20 AIM-120 medium-range bombs and 4 AIM-9 close-range bombs.
91-912 is landing. The only aircraft carrying AIM-9M
All aircraft have medium-range bombs mounted on the wingtip racks, which is also the commonly used mount method of the US military. The US military believes that the missile on the wingtip hanger has a great impact on maneuverability, so they try to hang the medium-range bullet with a weight on the hanger that is as close as possible, because the medium-range bullet will be launched earlier in combat, so that the aircraft can have better maneuverability into close combat. However, such mounting will aggravate flight resistance and affect the range, but it will not have much impact on the Air Force, which has a massive air tanker.
The ALQ-184 electronic countermeasure pod on the belly of the aircraft and the three AIM-120
under the left wing are rare, and the outermost hangers of these aircraft are also used to mount medium-range bombs instead of the common close-range combat bombs. The only close-range bullet is hung on the hanger in the middle of the wing, some are hung on the left and some are hung on the right, while the other side is still a medium-range bullet.This very rare method of full plug-in full loading is also the first time that the outside world has seen the full air-optimal practical loading mode of the US Air Force F-16 fighter. The mounting method of this type of F-16 also shows that these aircraft use medium-range interception as their main combat mode, and close-range bombs are just an emergency need to prepare for close combat that has to enter.
fly over the F-16CM of the USS Roosevelt aircraft carrier, and the mount is clearly visible
The timing of this armed patrol mission is very intriguing. On the same day that these four F-16CMs flew to the South China Sea , the People's Liberation Army continued to conduct training in the southwest airspace of Taiwan Island and sent 25 aircraft in a record time. Among the 25 aircraft, one commanded KJ-500 early warning aircraft, two Y-8Q anti-submarine patrol aircraft, four H-6K bombers that can carry long-range anti-ship missile , and the remaining ones include four J-10C fighters and fourteen J-16 heavy multi-purpose fighters.
formation flew over the F-16 fourth aircraft of the aircraft carrier formation
At the same time, the Chinese Navy's "Liaoning" aircraft carrier formation just crossed the Bashi Channel the day before and entered the northern part of the South China Sea. At the 12th, it was located in the sea area east of Hainan Island , while the US Navy's USS Roosevelt aircraft carrier crossed the entire South China Sea from southwest to northeast, and was located in the northeast of the South China Sea in the southwest of the Bashi Channel. The reconnaissance aircraft such as the US Navy and Air Force, such as EC-135, EP-3E, P-8A, RQ-4B, approaches the Chinese coastal areas to conduct reconnaissance flights every day, and the atmosphere in the entire South China Sea area is quite tense at this time. Under such circumstances, this group of fully armed F-16CM fighter jets flew from Japan's main island to the South China Sea in a full live ammunition posture. The purpose of their provocation was very obvious! This action will inevitably trigger a normal reaction from the PLA Air Force unit. I believe that some of the J-16s dispatched that day should be to deal with these F-16 fighters.
F-16CM dual-plane flying over the aircraft carrier at low altitude
Of course, all these F-16s can do is to "provoke". The People's Liberation Army's heavy J-16 fighter can carry 12 air-to-air missiles of various types, twice the size of these F-16s! With the large active phased array radar of the J-16 and the PL-15 medium-range air-to-air missile with a longer range, if the F-16 really wants to have any abnormal movements, teach it to be a human being in minutes!
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