Lockheed Martin Given $14 Billion to Manufacture 128 New F-16s: New Production Line for Ageing Fighters Opened

America’s largest arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin has announced the opening of a new production line for F-16 Fighting Falcon single engine fighter jets in Greenville, South Carolina. The firm was awarded a $14 billion contract to manufacture 128 new fighters at the facility through to the year 2026 for clients including Bahrain, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Taiwan - with more than half of these to go to Taiwan which has played a key role in supporting continued F-16 production. The announcement of a new line comes three years after an older F-16 line in Fort Worth, Texas, was closed. Having seen its first flight in 1974, and entered service from 1978, the F-16 is the oldest fighter in the world that is still in production - with the exception of its heavier counterpart the F-15. The aircraft will be over 50 years old before any of its clients receive their orders. The fighter has been marketed as a low cost and low maintenance aircraft to countries which either cannot afford higher end aircraft such as the F-35, or in Taiwan’s case which are not allowed to purchase the F-35 for political reasons - namely because of the high risk that its technologies will be shared with the Chinese mainland. 

The first F-16s are expected to roll off the new production line in 2022, and possible further orders could take production beyond 2027. Integrated product team leader for F-16 foreign military sales with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate, Brian Pearson, stated regarding the program: “This new production line is very significant. There are 25 nations operating F-16s today, and they have a lot of expertise with the airframe. The line helps us meet the global demand that a number of nations have for [F-16] aircraft and gives us the additional capability to provide the aircraft to countries interested in purchasing it for the first time.” The F-16 has increasingly been referred to as obsolete by officials in the U.S. and in foreign operators such as Singapore, with several countries moving to retire the ageing jets such. Many such as Egypt and Israel have already begun to reduce the sizes of their F-16 fleets, while others such as Thailand and Iraq may retire them completely in the near future.