Halloe

This is a remake of an old build from way back when I first started uploading things. I've been meaning to get around to this build for a while but I guess it took me leaving SP for a while and finding other stuff to pour my creative juices into (Am writing metal songs nao :D) to finally get to it. Pretty much aped the build techniques from the F-16E and flight model is roughly the same - not where I would like it personally but it works.

Variants:

Operation Lazuli Marble
Basic Extended Range

Controls

Group1 - Tailhook
Group2 - N/A
Group3 - Jettison wing ordnance
Group4 - N/A
Group5 - Airbrakes
Group6 - Jettison wing tanks
Group7 - N/A
Group8 - Master arm

Armament

2x Mitsubishi AAM-3 IR missiles
4x Mitsubishi ASM-2 anti-ship missiles
2x 600US Gal drop tanks

Gallery

During the 1980's Japan sent out a requirement for a modern multirole aircraft capable of anti-air and anti-ship missions to suit a rapidly modernizing battlefield scenario. While the Mitsubishi F-1 was a capable aircraft to fill this role, it was clearly a generation behind the latest and greatest aircraft coming out of the US and Russia. After sending the specs to various domestic and foreign companies (with major controversy to boot, as can happen with this sort of affair) Japan eventually settled on a modified version of the General Dynamics F-16 based upon the F-16 "Agile Falcon" proposal. In a deal that was definitely absolutely not favorable to the US and certainly didn't piss of Japanese officials and manufacturers, the F-2 was given the greenlight to start development and testing by the start of the 1990's. The prototype first flew in 1995 amid great difficulty behind the scenes; the project which had been hoped to speed right by with few troubles became delayed and economically strained. By the time the first production aircraft arrived at their squadrons in 2001 the plane cost nearly as much as the F-15J Eagle, and less than 100 machines were manufactured by the mid 2000's when the line was shut down. The F-2A and F-2B remain in service with the JASDF today, though it's likely their role might be replaced with the F-35's being bought from the US. Time will tell.

Source for some of the info here courtesy of airvectors.com. Click here to read more about the F-16 family including the F-2, other foreign lookalikes, and obscure variants/proposals