Morocco's first new F-16 Block 72 has completed its maiden flight at Lockheed Martin's facility in Greenville, South Carolina, becoming the latest aircraft to emerge from a production line that has gained momentum with orders from six countries.
Lockheed Martin confirmed the flight on October 6. The fighter will now proceed through flight testing ahead of delivery to the Royal Moroccan Air Force, which has ordered 25 newly built F-16 Block 72s.
Morocco is also upgrading 23 F-16C/D Block 52 aircraft already in service to the F-16V configuration. The two programs will eventually give the country a fleet of 48 aircraft incorporating many of the systems found on newly produced Block 70/72 fighters, including the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 AESA radar.
Deliveries of the new Moroccan aircraft are expected to begin in 2027.
Six countries have ordered new F-16s
Foreign orders have given the F-16 a new commercial life decades after the type first entered service. Lockheed Martin has customers for newly built Block 70/72 aircraft in Bahrain, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Taiwan, Morocco and Jordan. Together, their orders cover 149 fighters.
Taiwan accounts for the largest order, with 66 Block 70 aircraft, followed by Morocco with 25. Bahrain ordered 16 aircraft, Bulgaria 16, Slovakia 14 and Jordan 12.
The Block 70 and Block 72 designations primarily distinguish the engine installed. Block 70 aircraft use the General Electric F110, while Morocco selected the Pratt & Whitney F100-powered Block 72.
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Bahrain became the launch customer for the new production version, with its first aircraft making its maiden flight in January 2023. Slovakia and Bulgaria subsequently began receiving their fighters, and the first two newly built Taiwanese F-16Vs arrived in Taiwan on October 2.
Lockheed Martin reported in February that 37 Block 70/72 aircraft had already been delivered, with another 111 in its backlog. The figures illustrate how Greenville has moved from establishing a replacement F-16 production line to sustaining deliveries for several customers simultaneously.
F-16 production moved from Texas to South Carolina
For decades, F-16s were produced at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth facility in Texas. The company moved final assembly to Greenville to make room at Fort Worth for expanding F-35 production.
The last F-16 assembled in Fort Worth was delivered to Iraq in 2017. The Greenville line subsequently began producing the Block 70/72, with the first aircraft completed for Bahrain.
The latest version retains the basic F-16 airframe but incorporates systems developed during decades of evolution of the fighter. Its equipment includes the APG-83 AESA radar, an upgraded mission computer and cockpit displays, an Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System and a structural service life of 12,000 hours.
The new-build program also complements the F-16V upgrade offered to existing operators. Countries including Greece and Taiwan have modernized older F-16s with many of the systems incorporated into the Block 70/72 without purchasing those aircraft as newly built fighters.
US Air Force could return to F-16 market
The continuing foreign demand has kept the F-16 in production long after the US Air Force stopped buying the fighter. The service received its last newly manufactured F-16 in 2005 and subsequently concentrated its fighter procurement on the F-35.
That could change. The US Air Force is studying the possible acquisition of new F-16s, potentially designated F-16G, as a lower-cost complement to its fifth-generation fighter fleet.
Such an order would bring the US Air Force back to a production program sustained entirely by export customers for more than two decades. The possibility comes with Greenville already committed to producing more than 100 Block 70/72 fighters for foreign operators.
