Belgian F-16 Fleet Grounded - Engine Problems

[RAFEngO74to09]

Netherlands covering QRA for them.

Belgium’s Hard-Worked F-16 Fighter Jet Fleet Has Just Been Grounded (thedrive.com) (https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/39691/belgiums-hard-worked-f-16-fighter-jet-fleet-has-just-been-grounded?xid=twittershare)

BAF F16 FA-118 #STING21 technical failure during take-off, parts of the engine exhausts broke off. - YouTube

[Finningley Boy]

I was just about to post another link, as far as I'm aware, the KLU hasn't got a lot of F-16 operational, about three squadrons covering every considered form of tactical role. I don't want to sound like a typical jingo type, but doesn't this expose the fair-weather attitude of western democracies (US excepted) to any serious defence considerations? There'll be those who'll say thank god for the EU and others who'll, more rightly say in my opinion, thank god for NATO. But which ever way you slice the cake, this should not happen, Belgium, albeit a small country with allies surrounding it, has been left without a single air defence, ground attack, strike or reconnaissance fighter!

FB

[air pig]

I was just about to post another link, as far as I'm aware, the KLU hasn't got a lot of F-16 operational, about three squadrons covering every considered form of tactical role. I don't want to sound like a typical jingo type, but doesn't this expose the fair-weather attitude of western democracies (US excepted) to any serious defence considerations? There'll be those who'll say thank god for the EU and others who'll, more rightly say in my opinion, thank god for NATO. But which ever way you slice the cake, this should not happen, Belgium, albeit a small country with allies surrounding it, has been left without a single air defence, ground attack, strike or reconnaissance fighter!

FB
Weew the Belgian's and Dutch not doing turn and turn about for their air defence, covering each otyher?

[M609]

Apparently the failure was in a part that the Norwegian F-16 fleet did a fleet wide modification on in 2008, according to www.tu.no (https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.tu.no/artikler/motorfeil-pa-flere-f-16-gjor-at-belgia-setter-hele-flaten-pa-bakken-norge-er-ogsa-varslet/507770)

[Finningley Boy]

Weew the Belgian's and Dutch not doing turn and turn about for their air defence, covering each otyher?
It will be interesting to see if anyone tries to make a play for the EU, supposedly denied, agenda for an integrated single command structure Euro Armed Forces, often referred to in lay terms as the Euro Army.

FB

[Arclite01]

For me it highlights the issue of reliance on a single type for the role. Lose 1 due to a fleet wide tech issue - lose them all...................

Arc

[Finningley Boy]

For me it highlights the issue of reliance on a single type for the role. Lose 1 due to a fleet wide tech issue - lose them all...................

Arc
Precisely Arclite01, precisely!

FB

[gums]

Salute!

It may not be reliance on the plane but the engine. Even then, some batches do not have defective blades or control units, but maybe wear and tear on the nozzles and other components.

No matter how many tests and simulations and models, once a plane or engine gets to the field we always find some glitches. Most are minor, very, very few are major.

The first F-35 loss here at Eglin was the engine blades not correctly seated in the surrounding shroud of the new motor, and that sucker is a beast. So the concept was for the rotating blades to make their own grooves. Well, no problems with a few dozen engines during test, but then we have a few hundred! Guess what? So improved engine inspections and such have resulted in no more engine failures of that type.

.. Gums sends...

[megan]

For me it highlights the issue of reliance on a single type for the role. Lose 1 due to a fleet wide tech issue - lose them allThere was a practice in some commercial operations to have dual types in the fleet for that precise reason. Seemed to work OK in WWII though, common engine in Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster, Mustang, Mosquito, Halifax, albeit different marks.

[Finningley Boy]

Salute!

It may not be reliance on the plane but the engine. Even then, some batches do not have defective blades or control units, but maybe wear and tear on the nozzles and other components.

No matter how many tests and simulations and models, once a plane or engine gets to the field we always find some glitches. Most are minor, very, very few are major.

The first F-35 loss here at Eglin was the engine blades not correctly seated in the surrounding shroud of the new motor, and that sucker is a beast. So the concept was for the rotating blades to make their own grooves. Well, no problems with a few dozen engines during test, but then we have a few hundred! Guess what? So improved engine inspections and such have resulted in no more engine failures of that type.

.. Gums sends...
Gums,

The RAF had this very problem with the Armstrong Siddley Sapphire engines in the Gloster Javelin back in the 1960s. A sudden drop in temperature when flying through heavy cumulus, the cold caused the engine casing to shrink with the sharp drop in degrees to the extent that it came into contact with the compressor blades with inevitable results. They called it centre-line closure. The remedy, a typical British economic approach, and it worked! They coated the blade tips with an abrasive, this naturally sanded down a groove into the casing when a sudden drop in pressure/temperature was encountered.

FB:cool:

[Martin the Martian]

The problem is, what can you do if you can only afford to operate one type of aircraft?

[sycamore]

So ,i guess the BBMF are ready in case of `Typhoon problems...!

[DIBO]

Problem fixed https://www.aviation24.be/military-aircraft/belgian-air-component/the-belgian-air-force-f-16-fleet-is-operational-again/

[Mil-26Man]

So ,i guess the BBMF are ready in case of `Typhoon problems...!

Them, or the F-35s.