U.S F-16 Pilots TeachFilipino How to Hit Missile, Radar Sites

 

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

"Baby it's the U.S F-16 Block 50 jet that cost multiple billions of pesos each," as I quipped to the video camera of my son Jigger during the Cope Thunder 2024.

The American brought today in Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga 12 Lockheed Martin aircraft to collaborate with Filipino pilots of FA 50PH light attack multiple role jets how manuverability like air to ground attack islets and enemy ships.

Some Pinoys paid for airfare going to Singapore to watch an air expo to see jet like this while this Yokel is privileged to be part of the Ph military sanctioned reporters to cover American air assets and interview their pilots.

These jets are called Wild Weasel vaunted for air -to- ground attack.

The F-16 Wild Weasel Pilots explain to me that that flyby of the six multi-million pesos jets to the South China Sea from Basa Air Base in Pampanga was a hard drive where the pilot used their after burners to burn more gas just like for a dog fight mission.

The Wild Weasel mission is now assigned to the F-16 Fighting Falcon, using the Block 50 and Block 52, with production beginning in 1991. The single-seat Block 50/52 F-16C according to Wikipedia, is specifically tasked with this mission and aircraft modified for this mission are designated F-16CJ/DJ. The pilot now performs both the role of flying the airplane and targeting and employing against ground threats. Other aircraft, while capable of engaging anti-air emplacements, are typically tasked with other primary missions; the A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog", primarily tasked with CAS missions, lacks the avionics to perform a true Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) mission and does not carry the AGM-88 HARM.

The AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) is a tactical, air-to-surface anti-radiation missile designed to home in on electronic transmissions coming from surface-to-air radar systems. It was originally developed by Texas Instruments as a replacement for the AGM-45 Shrike and AGM-78 Standard ARM system. Production was later taken over by Raytheon Corporation when it purchased the defense production business of Texas Instrument.