multi-role fighter fleet.
The Israel Defense Forces said the air force’s more than 200 F-16s have
resumed normal operations after an investigation of technical flaws. The
military said the probe focused on the malfunction of the engines of two
F-16s in June.
Israeli Air Force F-16s. /Ofer Zidon/Flash90
“As of now, all of the F-16s have returned to the skies with full
operational capability, including strikes, sorties, training flights, and
air-to-air simulations,” the military said on Sept. 29.
The military said many in the F-16 fleet were grounded in mid-2012. The Air Force investigation was said to have detected the malfunction in the peeling of the coating of the air intake inlet, which damaged the aircraft engines.
“Following the discovery, the majority of the IAF’s F-16s were grounded from training exercises, although they remained on standby alert,” the military said.
The military did not identify the models of the two F-16s whose engines
malfunctioned. About half of the fleet was comprised of the advanced F-16I,
a variant of the Block 50 aircraft and acquired from 2000 through 2004.
During the F-16 restoration effort, the Air Force stripped away the old
coatings of the air intake inlets. Officers said the engine components were
then reassembled with a new and more durable coating.
“The challenge was to complete the process as quickly as possible so as
many airplanes were available for training as possible,” Maj. Shlomi
Palanitski, a commander in the project, said. “Air bases have coped with the
crisis by continuing their training as best they could. We focused on doing
everything in the safest way possible.”
World Tribune
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