The last three of 24 F-16 Block 52 fighters built by Lockheed Martin for the Royal Moroccan Air Force departed the company’s production facility in Fort Worth, Tex., for Morocco, reported South Africa-based defenceWeb. The new-build airplanes left Fort Worth on Aug. 22, according to defenseWeb’s Aug. 29 report. Morocco ordered the two dozen F-16s in 2008. It took delivery of the first four aircraft in August 2011. The F-16s operate from Ben Guerir Air Base, which is located about 36 miles north of Marrakech.
The F-47 fighter will be run differently than previous fighter programs and share the same mission systems architecture as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told the Senate Armed Services Committee. That means advances in one will fuel advances in the other.