| Have you ever wonder which fighter planes are | | | | In the first week of June 2008, more than 100 Israeli |
| mostly used in war against Iraq? | | | | F-16s and F-15s were engaged in maneuvers over |
| In "Desert Storm' operation as well as the recent | | | | the eastern Mediterranean and Greece. The aircraft |
| Iraq attack, many F-16s were used so much that it is | | | | reportedly flew more than 900 mi (1,450 km), |
| called the 'workhorse of the US Air Force" | | | | roughly the distance from Israel to Iran's Natanz |
| Prototyped in 1965 as the YF-16, the F-16 Fighting | | | | nuclear enrichment facility, and the exercise included |
| Falcon is an American multirole jet fighter aircraft | | | | refueling tankers and helicopters capable of rescuing |
| originally developed by General Dynamics for the | | | | downed pilots. Russia's foreign minister Sergey |
| United States Air Force. A lightweight fighter, it | | | | Lavrov cautioned Israel against using military force |
| evolved into a successful multirole aircraft, successful | | | | against Iran. |
| on the export market and serving 24 countries. It is | | | | Dogfighting armament includes AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 |
| nicknamed the "Viper", after the Battlestar Galactica | | | | Sidewinder, IRIS-T, AIM-120 AMRAAM anti-air |
| starfighter. | | | | missiles, as well as the staple M61 Vulcan gatling gun. |
| F-16 models are denoted by sequential block numbers | | | | Ground strikes are carried out with payloads including |
| to denote significant upgrades. The blocks cover | | | | AGM-65 Mavericks, Paveway-series laser-guided |
| both single- and two-seat versions. A variety of | | | | bombs and the B61 nuclear bomb. |
| software, hardware, systems, weapons carriage, and | | | | The only real F-16s that I have seen are during air |
| structural enhancements have been instituted over | | | | shows where pilots do acrobatic maneuvers and my |
| the years to gradually upgrade the F-16 and | | | | son will scream with flight as the combined decibels |
| retroactively implement the upgrades in previously | | | | of the F-16s reached deafening levels. |
| delivered aircraft. | | | | With pictures I took from this air displays (I must |
| F-16 have been widely used throughout the past few | | | | add it is difficult to capture these photos), I will sit |
| decades and are still used extensively today. | | | | down and toy with some papers to make an F-16 |
| On 7 June 1981, eight Israeli F-16s, escorted by F-15s, | | | | paper airplane. Some look mediocre while others look |
| executed Operation Opera, their first employment in | | | | quite real. |
| a significant air-to-ground operation. This raid severely | | | | In fact, recently, my neighbour, John and I sat down |
| damaged Osiraq, an Iraqi nuclear reactor under | | | | and experiment to make the F-16 and it turns out to |
| construction near Baghdad, to prevent the regime of | | | | be another of our origami creations. I proudly display |
| Saddam Hussein from using the reactor for the | | | | this new creation right on top of my computer. |
| creation of nuclear weapons. | | | | |