Viper Burned

Nov. 13, 2008

US Air Forces Central announced that an F-16 fighter deployed to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, caught fire Nov. 12 after its pilot aborted a takeoff around 5:40 a.m. local time. The pilot managed to get out of the aircraft on the ground, with no apparent injury, but the aircraft was destroyed in the fire. The Air Force planned to convene an accident investigation board.

Related Content

CCA Contract Winners to be Announced Imminently

April 24, 2024
The Air Force is set to announce finalists for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft Increment 1 competition, intended to lead to production of 1,000 to 2,000 autonomous combat drones.

F-35 Tech Upgrade Slips to 2025; ‘Truncated’ Version in the Fall

April 23, 2024
The full-up Tech Refresh 3 for the F-35 won't be delivered until 2025, Lockheed Martin officials said April 23. A "truncated" version will be delivered this fall so users can start taking delivery of their jets, and then be able to exploit the full capabilities once the complete upgrade is…

Saltzman: New Space Force Readiness Model Will Be ‘Drastic Change’

April 23, 2024
Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said reforms underway to the Space Force’s deployment and training model are the “most drastic change accompanying the establishment of the Space Force” in a note distributed to Guardians on April 19. “It fundamentally alters how we prepare for operations,” Saltzman wrote…

Why a C-130 Crew Braved a 26 Hour Flight to Guam

April 23, 2024
An Air Force C-130J crew braved a long flight around half the planet last week as part of an experiment testing how quickly they could respond to a crisis in the Indo-Pacific. Dubbed Hazard Leap, the test kicked off on April 20 when two full crews in a C-130J assigned…

President Says Poland ‘Ready’ to Join NATO Nuclear Sharing

April 22, 2024
Polish president Adrzej Duda said in a interview published April 22 his country is "ready" to become one of the "nuclear sharing" NATO partners that can deploy American tactical nuclear weapons from their fighter aircraft, but prime minister Donald Tusk said no such decision has been made.

ICBM Cancer Study Finds No High Levels of Hazardous Chemicals at Vandenberg

April 22, 2024
The Air Force found no significant evidence of harmful chemicals at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., as part of its ongoing Missile Community Cancer Study, the service said on April 22. Samples collected in February found “no instances of contamination above regulatory action level.” The sampling of Vandenberg focused on polychlorinated…