At the end of January, the Chilean Air Force commemorated the 18th anniversary of the arrival of its F-16C/D Block 50 fighters. The milestone, which occurred on January 31, 2006, marked a qualitative leap for the country’s Combat Wing with the arrival of one of the most modern weapons systems of that time. As of today, complemented by the F-16 MLU from the Netherlands, they guard the skies of Chile while participating in exercises with the rest of the Chilean Armed Forces, as well as at the regional level. Looking to the future, authorities from the Chilean Air Force have expressed the necessary modernization of the Viper, confirming that plans and negotiations are being pursued to make these plans a reality.
January 31, 2006, was not just another day for the Chilean Air Force. The date would mark one of the most important milestones in its history with the arrival of the first F-16 Block 50+ fighters. The incorporation of the Vipers took place under the “Peace Puma” program with the United States, which set the purchase of a total of ten new F-16 Block 50 fighters, six single-seaters (C) and four two-seaters (D).
The selection of the F-16C/D was made as a requirement for the necessary replacement of the Mirage 50 Pantera and Elkan operated by the Chilean Air Force. The selection process, initiated during the 1990s, included other candidates, among which the Mirage 2000-5, the F-18 Hornet, and the JAS-39 Gripen stood out. By the year 2000, the decision had already been made, and in a historic event, the then President of Chile, Ricardo Lagos Escobar (2000-2006), announced its purchase.
Currently, the Chilean F-16 Block 50s operate within the Aviation Group No. 3 of the 1st Air Brigade, based at Los Cóndores Air Base in the city of Iquique, with invaluable support for their maintenance provided by personnel and technicians from the Maintenance Group No. 54.
Looking to the future, and as announced by the authorities of the Chilean Air Force themselves, it is expected that the country will advance in a modernization program which has been delayed on several occasions, despite progress in negotiations with the United States. As announced in March 2023, in the words of Aviation General Hugo Rodríguez González, during the ceremony for the 93rd anniversary of the Institution, he expressed that: “… we will advance in the modernization project of the F-16 fleet, with a program that will allow us to keep these aircraft operational. Impacting on an effective, efficient, and economical use of monetary resources“.
However, since then, negotiations have maintained a low profile, only managing to speculate on the elements and aspects that will comprise the modernization of Chile’s F-16s, as well as the scope of this program. It is important to remember that the Chilean Air Force has a fleet of 10 units of the Block 50+ (6 C and 4 D), complemented by 36 Block 15 MLU acquired from the Royal Netherlands Air Force.
A glimpse into the possible modernization of the F-16s came in 2020 when the Department of State, through the Defense and Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), authorized the sale of an upgrade package valued at US$ 634.7 million. Among the listed items were:
Nineteen (19) Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (JHMCS)
Six (6) Inert General-Purpose Bomb Bodies MK-82 (500LB)
Two (2) MXU-650KB Air Foil Groups (AFG)
Forty-four (44) Embedded GPS/INS Units (EGI)
Forty-nine (49) Multifunctional Information Distribution System Joint Tactical Radios (MIDS JTRS).
New avionics equipment and software upgrades, integration and testing; ARC-238 radios; combined Radar Altimeter (CARA); Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS) support; AN/APX-126 Combined Interrogator Transponders for Friend or Foe Identification (IFF), among several other items, were also included.
However, this program did not materialize, and the F-16s of the Chilean Air Force still await a necessary modernization to keep their combat capabilities relevant for the next decades.
*Photographs used for illustrative purposes – Chilean Air Force (FACh).
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