Lockheed has proposed an improved version of the F-16, the F-16X, as the USAF's next multirole fighter. It would have a new wing based on that of the F-22 and no horizontal tail. It would have twice the range of the F/A-18E/F at two thirds the cost.
Interim improvements leading up to the F-16X could be introduced on F-16C/D Block 50 Plus aircraft, incorporating color cockpit displays, a terrain-referenced navigation system, synthetic aperture radar, and a passive missile warning system. Later Block 60 aircraft would have an internal LANTIRN system, APU and increased internal fuel in the dorsal spine.
The production of the F-16X would begin about 2010 if the program ever gets the go-ahead.
Sources:
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Combat Aircraft F-16, Doug Richardson, Crescent, 1992.
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General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors, John Wegg,
Naval Institute Press, 1990.
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The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers,
Orion, 1987.
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United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough
and Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.
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F-16 Fighting Falcon--A Major Review of the West's Universal
Warplane, Robert F. Dorr, World Airpower Journal, Spring 1991.
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The World's Great Interceptor Aircraft, Gallery, 1989.
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Modern Military Aircraft--F-16 Viper, Lou Drendel, Squadron/Signal
Publications, 1992.
- Lockheed F-16 Variants, Part 1, World Airpower Journal, Volume 21, Summer 1995.
