Upgrades for Homestead’s F-16s

The F-16 Block 30 airplanes assigned to Air Force Reserve Command’s 482nd Fighter Wing at Homestead ARB, Fla., are receiving new avionics under a project called Software Component Upgrade 8, according to a unit release. The work began on the jets in March, states Homestead’s July 25 release. Each F-16 is getting a new center display unit in the cockpit to improve the pilot’s situational awareness and a helmet-mounted integrated targeting system to reduce the time it takes to engage a target, states the release. SCU-8 is “probably the biggest single leap forward that we’ve had in the Block 30,” said Lt. Col. Adam Meyers, the wing’s safety chief. He said the CDU will present data to the pilot in a manner such that “it becomes knowledge . . . instead of just a jumbled mess on a screen.” Meanwhile, “HMIT gives the pilot the ability to look over his shoulder, at either an airborne or surface target, and cue a weapon against it as quickly as he can move his head,” said Meyers. (Homestead report by Ross Tweten)