The F-16 is a single-engine fighter for the air force, while the F/A-18 is a carrier-based twin-engine fighter
That is the biggest difference between these two planes
According to Military.com, The U.S. Navy is preparing to receive F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets from the Air Force
as it moves to rid its inventory of legacy F/A-18 Hornet models used in its Reserve fleets, according to its fiscal 2022 budget request
Approximately 55 Hornets are scheduled for retirement, with the jets operated primarily for adversary training to simulate the capabilities of enemy aircraft
The Navy already operates a small number of around 15 F-16s for this purpose
despite the Falcon being an Air Force jet which is not used by the Navy in a combat capacity
The F-16 and F-18 have long been seen as rival programs
with the latter being closely based on the YF-17 prototype which was offered to the Air Force as an alternative to the F-16
Although the YF-17 built on the tried and tested design of the F-5, and benefitted from a higher flight ceiling and engine redundancy
the F-16 was chosen for its lower operational costs, easier maintenance, greater manoeuvrability and a longer range
while also being much cheaper to build
Although an F-16 modified to land on aircraft carriers was offered to the Navy, the benefits of having twin engines
which allowed a fighter to return to land or to its carrier if one engine failed, led the Navy to choose the F-18
For aggressor training, however, the F-16 is seen to have obvious benefits as a lighter and simpler airframe
The F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F/A-18 Hornet are both classified as light fighters, intended to complement heavy fighters such as the F-15 and F-14
But they also have some major differences
The F-16 has one engine – the F/A-18 has two. This is largely due to their differing operational environments
The F-16 operates from land bases, while the F/A-18 operates primarily from carriers
Of course, this also bears a lot on survivability.
If an F-16 loses an engine, the pilot’s gotta grab the loud handle
An F/A-18, on the other hand, can limp back to the carrier
The F-16 is tied to land bases – its landing gear cannot handle the shock of hitting a carrier deck
On the other hand, the F/A-18 can readily shift between a carrier operation and flying from land bases
Did you know the F-16 originally didn’t have any radar-guided missiles?
Aviation historian Joe Baugher notes that early A/B versions didn’t have the ability to fire the AIM-120 AMRAAM or AIM-7 Sparrow
The Block 15 ADF was the first version to carry a radar guided missile, the AIM-7
The F/A-18, though, could carry radar-guided missiles from day one
This was because while the F/A-18 was replacing an attack plane, it was also intended to help defend the carrier
The F-16 has a top speed of Mach 2.0, while the F/A-18 can only reach Mach 1.8
Still, these planes are both very fast when they need to be
But in a pure drag race, the F-16 will win – and by a decent margin
The F/A-18 uses a probe to latch into a drogue
The good news is that it can use just about anyone’s tankers – even USAF tankers, which are modified to carry drogues in addition to their booms
The F-16s in the United States Air Force inventory, though, have a receptacle for the boom from a KC-135, KC-10, or KC-46 to plug into
Part of this is because the Air Force also has to refuel big bombers and cargo planes that need a lot of fuel quickly – and the boom can do just that
The new F-16s acquired second hand by the Navy will notably be very early models
including 20 single-seat Block 32 F-16Cs and six two-seat Block 25 F-16Ds which will be upgraded before entering service
The F-16 has widely been regarded as OBSOLETE (sorry)
with many countries beginning to retire the jets or making preparations to phase them out of service outright
although upgraded versions of the aircraft are still in production to be marketed to lower level clients
The Air Force is moving to retire a large portion of its F-16s in the next few years
and some of the fighters have even been turned into drones for use as targets to test new types of anti aircraft missiles