The 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan AB, South Korea, has received the first four of newly upgraded Block 40 F-16s. The wing’s current Block 40 Vipers do not have the Common Configuration Implementation Program upgrades that include enhanced avionics, featuring a modular mission computer, Link 16 communications system, and helmet-mounted cueing system, reports SSgt. Alice Moore. Pilots of the wing’s 80th Fighter Squadron flew the aircraft from Eielson AFB, Alaska, to Kunsan, where the 80th FS will be the first unit to fly the upgraded fighters. The wing expects to receive more CCIP aircraft in spring 2008.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
