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. The Belgian F-16 Solo Display Team for 2015-2017 will be piloted by Cdt. Tom "Gizmo" De Moortel from the 31st Squadron “Tigers” based at Kleine-Brogel AB. F-16 FA-123 was given an MLU M6.1 update making it the most modern F-16 in the BAF. As the display aircraft, FA-123 received a new special paint scheme consisting of silver/white markings on a black background on the top of the wings and black markings on a grey/silver background on the bottom. The paint scheme was named “Blizzard’ and the callsign Blizzard was assigned.