{"id":8394,"date":"2020-08-02T20:50:55","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T01:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planesintheair.com\/?p=8394"},"modified":"2020-08-02T20:50:55","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T01:50:55","slug":"boeings-arizona-modification-line-yields-first-qf-16-full-scale-aerial-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/?p=8394","title":{"rendered":"Boeing\u2019s Arizona Modification Line Yields First QF-16 Full-Scale Aerial Target"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A team from Boeing [NYSE: BA<\/a>] and the U.S. Air Force completed the first QF-16 Full-Scale Aerial Target to undergo conversion from a modification line in Arizona. The aircraft was flown last month to Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, where it will be used autonomously in future weapons training operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 309th<\/sup> Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) located at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson teamed with Boeing under a public-private partnership to create a second modification line to supplement ongoing QF-16 work at Boeing\u2019s Cecil Field site in Jacksonville, Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe delivery of this first AMARG modified QF-16 aerial target drone is a testimony of the cooperative, synergistic relationship we had hoped for when we created the private-public partnership with Boeing,\u201d said Col. Jennifer Barnard, Commander of the 309th<\/sup> AMARG. \u201cThough the installation of the drone conversion package is a relatively new venture for us, our hope is to leverage cost efficiencies and proficiencies benefiting both partners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversion of the F-16 A\/C aircraft to the unmanned QF-16 configuration requires modification of the airframe and installation of major components. The QF-16 performs both autonomous maneuvers through autopilot and controlled maneuvers through ground stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe partnership between Boeing and AMARG is crucial to expediting capability to the warfighters,\u201d said Craig DeMeester, Boeing QF-16 program manager. \u201cIt\u2019s an example of great teamwork, and completing this first jet is just the beginning as we have more deliveries planned this year and well into next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boeing began converting retired F-16s into QF-16s in 2015. More than 120 aircraft are on contract to be modified, with over 40 percent delivered to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A QF-16 takes off from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, June 4, 2020. The QF-16 was regenerated to flying status after being stored at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group to Boeing to become a full-scale aerial target. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jacob T. Stephens)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A team from Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Air Force completed the first QF-16 Full-Scale Aerial Target to undergo conversion from a modification line in Arizona. The aircraft was <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10172,4510,9316,4813,89,5804,5637,1836,5992,2203,4957,8651,10674,5446,10169,10176,1397,10195],"tags":[12081,1052,167,12084,2441,464,12082,350,160,1002,41,11804,7800,999,1268,1053,1041,1671,1741,2985,3301,745,903,1795,2510,889,2609,1000,412,1557,12079,12083,8288,4853,1970,1691,1003,12080,631,1849],"class_list":["post-8394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aerospace","category-aerospace-news","category-air-force-news","category-airplane-news","category-aviation-news","category-avionics","category-business-news","category-defense-news","category-economic-news","category-finance-news","category-global-politics","category-joint-venture-news","category-military","category-military-news","category-news","category-stock-news-2","category-stock-news","category-transport","tag-309th","tag-aerial","tag-aerospace","tag-afb","tag-air-force","tag-aircraft","tag-amarg","tag-arizona","tag-aviation","tag-base","tag-boeing","tag-cecil","tag-conversion","tag-davis","tag-defense","tag-drone","tag-field","tag-first","tag-florida","tag-full","tag-future","tag-group","tag-jacksonville","tag-line","tag-maintenance","tag-military","tag-modification","tag-monthan","tag-news","tag-operations","tag-qf-16","tag-regeneration","tag-scale","tag-target","tag-training","tag-transport","tag-tucson","tag-tyndall","tag-u-s","tag-weapons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8396,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8394\/revisions\/8396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}