F16's in use till 2025 ???

[Vonsmalhausen]

on the FAS website i found this info :

Belgian F-16s will go through the F-16 Structure Augmentation Roadmap, or "Falcon STAR" programme, to extend their service lives up to 2025. Under current operational usage, most aircraft will not be able to attain their projected 8,000-hour service life. Falcon STAR addresses this problem by supplying kits to modify the aircraft structure before the onset of widespread fatigue damage and aircraft grounding. Modifications include replacing bulkheads and wing-attachment fittings among other things.

more can be found here : www.florennes-as.be/

F16's in use till 2025 they will be 45-50 years old then
i have nothing against the F16, it's a fantastic plane, but 45 years for a fighterplane is a very long time (oké, the avionics have nothing to do anymore with the original, but still..... almost 50 years...)
and apart from that ; this means we will have to go spotting F16's for the comming 20 years.... like we are doïng already 25 years

[Fabke]

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D This is really the best I ever heard , so this means we still have to fly with the F16 for another 20 years in Belgium , I think they can be happy if by then they still have 10 examples in flying condition , typically Belgian , they should look better out for a new fighter instead of modernising these birds , remember what happened with the Belgian Mirages in the past

[Faan]

Falcon star is being executed together with the M3 modification (one of the MLU updates) in Sabca at the moment. The first prototypes are already flying (FA-91 and FB-12), at the moment 5 F-16's are at Sabca ( for KB these are FA-86, FA-102 & FB-14)

[Fabke]

Thanks for this info mate