The F-16 Fighting Falcon was produced by General Dynamics who became Lockheed who then merged with Martin Marietta to become Lockheed Martin. The F-16 entered service in January 1979 as a multi-role jet fighter that evolved into an all-weather multi-role aircraft capable of sustaining 9-g turns. The F-16 is relatively inexpensive to purchase and maintain so the U.S. and 25 other countries added it to their inventory. The Fighting Falcon is referred to by its pilots as the “Viper” and will remain in USAF service until 2025.
With tension in the Middle East always being very high and with the thought of Syria having nuclear capabilities the Israelis decided they had to do something to prevent this. So 30 minutes prior to midnight on September 5, 2007 8 Israeli aircraft from Squadron 69, Squadron 119 and 253 departed for the al-Kibar nuclear facility. After flying over Lebanon and the full length of Syria the aircraft located the objective and dropped 17 tons of PGBs on the site. At 2:30 AM September 6 the target was confirmed destroyed without Israeli losses.