Lockheed Martin Completes New F-16 Fighter
After a hiatus of about four years, Lockheed Martin has completed assembly of a new F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter. The Block 70/72 aircraft belongs to the Bahrain Air Force and was produced at the company’s new factory in Greenville, in South Carolina. The first flight of the fighter is scheduled for early 2023.
F-16 production was halted in 2018 at Lockheed Martin’s headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, to make room for the new assembly line for the F-35 Lightning II, which became the focus of the facility.
In the meantime, the US company has set up an additional plant in Greenville to the production of the F-16. The unit opened in 2021.
According to Lockheed, the new production line in South Carolina is set to build at least another 128 Block 70/72 F-16s by the end of this decade for five customers.
In addition to Bahrain, the new F-16s will be assembled for Slovakia, Bulgaria, Taiwan and an as-yet-unidentified customer. Another country negotiating the acquisition of the fighter is Jordan, which plans to purchase eight aircraft.
