Photo: USAF/Airman 1st Class Jessica Sanchez
As one of the most widely-used military aircraft in the world, the F-16 Fighting Falcon is also one of the most beautiful machines of their kind currently flying in the skies of the world. Also known as the Viper for various reasons, the fighter jet looks even more so in the right conditions.
And conditions seemed to have been perfect at the start of this month at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico for an epic shot of one of these incredible beasts. Snapped by an Airman 1st Class with a Nikon camera, it was released last week by the American Air Force.
This particular airplane belongs to the 8th Fighter Squadron headquartered at the said air force base and was coming in to land “after completing routine training” in the area. In doing so, either at dawn or dusk, it got hit by the rays of the massive sun hovering above New Mexico, making it look as if a piece of the Sun descended and snug itself inside the airplane’s cockpit.
This is not the only impressive still of an F-16 we’ve seen over the past year here on autoevolution, and it will probably not be the last one. The U.S. has over 1,000 of them in its arsenal, in the F-16C/D variant, spread across a number of air force units.
Each one can carry a multi-barrel cannon with 500 rounds, two 2,000-pound bombs, up to six AIM-9 and AIM-120 missiles, and two 2400-pound external fuel tanks that help it travel on a single outing for as much as 2,000 miles (3,200 km).
Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the plane is powered by either a Pratt & Whitney or General Electric engine capable of giving the F-16 a top speed of 1,500 mph (2,400 kph) and a ceiling of about 50,000 feet (15 km).
This particular airplane belongs to the 8th Fighter Squadron headquartered at the said air force base and was coming in to land “after completing routine training” in the area. In doing so, either at dawn or dusk, it got hit by the rays of the massive sun hovering above New Mexico, making it look as if a piece of the Sun descended and snug itself inside the airplane’s cockpit.
This is not the only impressive still of an F-16 we’ve seen over the past year here on autoevolution, and it will probably not be the last one. The U.S. has over 1,000 of them in its arsenal, in the F-16C/D variant, spread across a number of air force units.
Each one can carry a multi-barrel cannon with 500 rounds, two 2,000-pound bombs, up to six AIM-9 and AIM-120 missiles, and two 2400-pound external fuel tanks that help it travel on a single outing for as much as 2,000 miles (3,200 km).
Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the plane is powered by either a Pratt & Whitney or General Electric engine capable of giving the F-16 a top speed of 1,500 mph (2,400 kph) and a ceiling of about 50,000 feet (15 km).
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