UAE Air Force in F-16 upgrade

Lockheed Martin and the UAE Armed Forces have signed a US$1.65 billion support upgrade contract for the UAE’s Block 60 F-16 Desert Falcon fighter jets. The upgrade “would deal with obsolescence issues in the Block 60 aircraft that were ordered by the UAE in 2000.” The UAE’s F-16 Block 60s have been described as some of the most advanced F-16s operating anywhere in the world and were the first to be equipped with an active electronically scanned array radar and conformal fuel tanks. The aircraft have been extensively used by the UAE supporting operations over Libya in 2011 and more recently in the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen.