Whats this?

Totoro said:

Okay, I change my guess and agree with sabre, the plane in the pic is israeli F16I. I didn't think they had such a colour scheme on their planes but they do. I don't know if UAE planes have the enlarged dorsal spine but this one does, and it's used for storing additional avionics equipment. It's additional 850 liters of volume, over a regular f16. They chose to put extra stuff there cause it'd cause least additional drag.

Click to expand...

I guess I am right

Actualy Israelis have this Scheme. Most of the other Arab nation F-16s r off usual gray colour scheme e.g: Jordon's. I have also seen USAF F-16 in the similar scheme.

The UAE F-16s have bluish dark & Light gray colour scheme & has similar looks to the one u see now. Same dorsal spine & external fuel tanks. Have a look:



Latest Block 52C/D+ are coming with external fuel tanks. PAF has also asked for external fuel tanks. This frees up the wet points for more weapons & also reduces wait of drop tanks from AC + Saves the money being spent on Drop Tanks which pilots usualy drop away.

I think the Dorsal Spine also contains some liquid data from the Radar. My guess is that the avionics in it are all related to AESA Radars specialy if it is APG-80.

Israeli F-16i.

The tanks are there because the F-16 can't store much internally, and when used on ground attack, you save a lot of space using conformal tanks.

how does the fuel tanks affect aero dynamic performance? they look like they disturb the airframe and put on more weight.

MIGleader said:

how does the fuel tanks affect aero dynamic performance? they look like they disturb the airframe and put on more weight.

Click to expand...

there would have to be some detrimental effect to aerodynamic performance, just like anytime you hang or stick something onto a clean airframe. As far as putting more weight on the airfram goes, the conformal tanks are a better solution than underwing tanks. With underwing tanks the wing roots are constantly being stressed with every roll, turn, takeoff and landing. The more they are stressed the shorter the ariframe life. They will also reduce rollrate. With the conformal tanks mounted on the fuselage, these structural effects are greatly reduced. Additionally, the roll rate will be less affected.