The world's most popular fighter jet, the F-16, is 50 years old but still extremely effective

In 1974, tests of the General Dynamics YF-16 prototype on a runway led to the accidental first flight of the fighter jet. This prototype later became the world-famous F-16 Fighting Falcon.

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Fifty years later, more than 4,500 F-16s have been sold, of which 3,100 are still in service. 25 countries still use the jet aircraft, which has become a model among fourth-generation fighters. The F-16 has cemented its place in aviation history not only by dominating the military jet market, but also by revolutionising technology.

Alex Hollings, a US veteran and aviation journalist, told Business Insider that "the F-16 represented a fundamental shift in fighter jet design philosophy". This new philosophy embraced the idea that air combat is not only an art form, but a quantifiable science that requires an aircraft to efficiently exchange kinetic and potential energy for the best manoeuvre. To this end, the F-16 was built as the first aerodynamically unstable aircraft to achieve faster, more aerobatic and energy-efficient manoeuvres.

Previously, fighter jet pilots used manual controls, but it would have been impossible to have an unstable and highly manoeuvrable aircraft that constantly required manual adjustments. Therefore, a flight control system was installed that allowed the F-16 to be controlled by a computer.

"In an era when fighter aircraft were still just tools used by pilots, the F-16's remote control was a combination of pilot skill and technological capability that has been the basis for all fighter aircraft designs ever since," Hollings said.

Source: Business Insider