Live-fire exercise from inside the cockpit of an F-16D Fighting Falcon aircraft

This video is particularly interesting because it not only gives an idea of what flying in the backseat of an F-16 looks like, but let’s you hear some pilots talk: for instance, at a certain point you can hear the formation leader’s say to the rest of the flight to switch on “discrete freq” 138.150 MHz.

The footage was recorded during a Weapons System Evaluation Program at Hill Air Force Base. The aircraft involved are F-16CJs belong to the 79th Fighter Squadron of the 20th Fighter Wing from Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.

The unit is focus of SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) missions, meaning that they specialize in neutralizing SAM (Surface to Air Missile) radars.

WSEP consists of several phases including Combat Hammer (bombs) and Combat Archer (air-to-air missiles).

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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.