There is a cadre of airmen who put the “straight” in straight shooting F-16 Vipers by using boresighting to recalibrate the fighter’s 20 mm cannon after weapons maintenance work and hard landings. Journalist SrA. Gena Armstrong reports that one such group of airmen at Misawa AB, Japan, go through exacting training to learn how to align the cannon with the pilot’s head’s up display targeting system. Weapons trainer SSgt. Eric Reid notes that the three-hour process, requiring a boresight telescope at the back end of the aircraft and a collimeter, or targeting scope, at the front, “can be tedious at times.”
Air Force F-16s from Germany Deploy to Middle East
Oct. 27, 2024
As tensions spiral in the Middle East, U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons from Germany have flown to the region, U.S. Central Command said Oct. 25. The F-16s are from the 480th Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, and represent some of the service’s most advanced models.