Homestead F-16 upgrades bringing new capabilities

by Ross Tweten
482nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs

7/25/2013 - HOMESTEAD AIR RESERVE BASE, Fla. -- F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to the 482nd Fighter Wing here are undergoing another round of avionics tweaking that will significantly change the way the wing flies and fights.

Homestead ARB began Software Component Upgrade SCU-8 in their Block-30 F-16s in March. Similar to upgrading to a new operating system on a PC, this eighth-generation version is a comprehensive upgrade that integrates with newer avionics systems such as the Helmet Mounted Integrated Targeting and the Center Display Unit.

F-16s assigned to the 301st FW, Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas, are also undergoing these modifications.

The CDU is a multi-function digital display, akin to a handheld smart tablet. It will replace the cockpit's original analog instruments that provide airspeed, altitude, and aircraft position data, and also provide additional tactical situational awareness to the pilot.

"When fully integrated, the new CDU is going to change the way we do business," said Lt. Col. Adam Meyers, 482nd Fighter Wing Safety chief and F-16 pilot. "Over the years, we've jammed more and more information onto our original cockpit displays, to the point where the pilot can become task-saturated just trying to understand it all. The increased-size display and flexible format of the new CDU will allow us to present even more data in a manner that it becomes knowledge to the pilot instead of just a jumbled mess on a screen."

The CDU's sizable high resolution color display places information in front of the pilot's eye, which reduces the time the pilot's head is down in the cockpit. The CDU also includes information on ground forces.

HMIT, another bonus in the future for Air Force Reserve Command assigned F-16s, drastically reduces the F-16's time to acquire targets. This time reduction ultimately results in increasing the potential of acquiring a high-value target and reducing the potential of the high-value target slipping away.

In the visual arena, pilots typically acquire targets by pointing the aircraft at the target to place it within the heads-up display field of view. This tactic is both time consuming and requires the pilot to maneuver their aircraft closer to the threat. HMIT gives pilots the ability to acquire targets simply by looking at them.

"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 Myers. "It literally takes the fight out of the cockpit displays and puts it where it should be, outside where it's happening. Targeting pod, radar, weapons - all can be slaved to the helmet without the pilot looking inside. And like the CDU, the HMIT will also display sensor information in a format that will markedly increase pilot situational-awareness while drastically reducing the time to complete the kill chain."

For maintainers, the upgrade process can be challenging because, according to Senior Master Sgt. Jason Pruitt, 482nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron shift supervisor, technical data may not cover all of the nuances of the new software.

"There's also the issue of having to use multiple sources for gaining all the required software and items to accomplish the upgrade," said Pruitt. "But an upgrade this important, with the latest in technology standards, makes it worth the extra trouble."

The expertise needed to complete these upgrades requires roughly five maintenance professionals specializing in their own aspect of the update.

"The F-16 and its avionics are getting more and more complex," said Meyers. "The fact that our aircraft maintainers are able to do what they do and the fact that the jets are more combat-capable now than when first built 25 years ago speaks volumes about the amount of work that they put into the jet."

The F-16 was built to be the low-cost flyer. Upgrades have increased the mission scope of the fly-by-wire fighter since its inception, all in the name of increased capability.

"You get a lot out of the money that you put into the F-16," said Meyers. "Upgrades like these are cost-effective ways of continuing to make the F-16 one of the most relevant airframes in the Nation's inventory. I think the mission effectiveness that we're getting out of the Block 30 indicates that this is an airplane that we're probably going to have around for a while."

While the F-16 community has grown accustom to being at the leading edge of combat capability, the changes it's currently seeing are nevertheless encouraging as the airframe itself solidifies its promise as a low-cost, high-performance weapon system for the U.S.

"It's always an exciting time to be in the F-16 community," said Meyers. "But I think that what we're seeing in SCU-8, and the associated hardware, is probably the biggest single leap forward that we've had in the Block 30, maybe ever."