The Multi-Role Fighter
 
 
As with many lightweight fighters, the F-16 took on more roles
than were originally envisioned for it.  The Falcon soon matured
into a multi-role fighter able to carry a six-ton external load
of fuel tanks, bombs, missiles and electronic counter-measure
(ECM) gear.  It also became the subject of an almost continuous
series of experimental design studies, some of which, like the
Control Configured Vehicle YF-16, even reached flight status.
 
In combat, the Falcon became a valuable all-around fighter.  The
Israeli Air Force found the F-16 to be a perfect complement to
its F-15s as well as its Kfirs and F-4s.  Israel made extensive
use of the F-16 in the long and bloody conflict in Lebanon.  In
engagements with Syrian MiG-21s and MiG-23s, the F-16 Falcon and
F-15 Eagle together ran up overwhelming victory scores.  In one
fight alone, these American-built jets destroyed the Soviet-built
aircraft at a rate of 22-to-0.  In the whole series of battles,
the Syrians lost 85 aircraft against the Israelis' 13, which
included only one F-16 loss.
 
The most famous F-16 mission in the Middle East was launched on
June 6, 1981.  On that day, eight F-16As and six F-15As attacked
the Iraqi nuclear facility at Dimona.  Each Falcon carried two
1,000-kilogram bombs in this low-level attack which utterly
destroyed the target.  Crippling the plant prevented Iraq from
developing a nuclear capability, a crucial concern when the Gulf
War began nearly ten years later.
 
In the early morning of February 28, 1994, United Nation forces
detected six Serbian Soko G-4 Galeb attack aircraft in a "no-fly
zone" in central Bosnia.  The aircraft were on a mission to bomb
Muslim artillery positions.  Two American F-16s on routine patrol
detected the Serbian planes and ordered them to leave the area. 
After the Serbians ignored the warning, the lead F-16 attacked. 
With an AIM-120 radar missile, the American jet destroyed the
first Serbian plane.  Using two Sidewinders, the same jet knocked
down two more Serbian aircraft.  The second F-16 destroyed
another Galeb with a Sidewinder before the remaining Serbian
planes retreated.  This attack was the first offensive military
action conducted by NATO in its 44-year history.