Recently, the US military stationed in South Korea had another crash, and an F-16 fighter crashed during training. The accident occurred at Gunsan Air Base on South Korea's west coast, which is also the second-largest U.S. air base in South Korea. It is reported that the plane crashed in the sea near the base, and the pilot escaped in an emergency and has been rescued at sea. The accident has attracted attention because a few months ago, there had been an F-16 crash in the US military stationed in South Korea. These successive accidents make people wonder whether the F-16, a fighter known as the "immortal sword", can really continue to serve safely? Historically, the F-16 fighter has been in service since the 70s of the last century and has been in service for more than 40 years. According to the statistics of military fans, more than 4,700 F-16s were produced, and more than 700 crashed around the world.
This high "crash rate" phenomenon can be attributed to a large number of F-16s to a certain extent, as well as the diversity of various flight missions, training, and Xi involved. However, these recent crashes have undoubtedly raised questions about the safety of the F-16. In particular, after the "Osprey" crash into the sea by the US military stationed in Japan, the Japanese side demanded that the US military conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident and immediately suspend the "Osprey," but the US military turned a deaf ear to this. This attitude caused this incident to trigger a diplomatic storm between the United States and Japan. From Japan's point of view, the frequent accidents of the F-16 must be a problem with the quality of the fuselage. As far as the US military is concerned, if a potential equipment failure is really detected, the sales prospects of this model will be affected. As a result, the two sides have been locked in a week-long bickering over the issue.
In any case, these accidents remind us that safety is always a factor that cannot be ignored in military training and operations. For an old fighter like the F-16, although it still shows excellent comprehensive capabilities in many aspects, it also needs more rigorous maintenance and use to ensure its safety. The U.S. military's F-18 Super Hornet and F-22 Raptor have had much fewer accidents in comparison. This is mainly due to the fact that these two models are less numerous and perform relatively fewer tasks. At the same time, the F-16 fighter had design flaws. As a third-generation aircraft, the F-16 still has a single-engine design, and it does have a higher crash rate compared to later twin-engine fighters. In addition, the biggest selling point of the F-16 is its high mobility, but this also objectively affects its reliability.
Coupled with the global expansion of the F-16 market, the natural environment and the training level of pilots in different countries, these will bring challenges to the accident rate of the F-16. For example, Ukrainian ** Zelensky has repeatedly asked the United States for F-16s this year, but throughout Ukraine, it is almost impossible to find English-speaking pilots. Finally, the aging and disrepair of the F-16 is also a big problem. The first batches of F-16s in service were decommissioned, but in other economically weaker countries, they had to remain in service, even beyond their service life. Even with repairs and upgrades, the probability of failure increases dramatically. Therefore, the failure rate and crash rate of F-16 fighters in recent years is indeed quite worrying. In particular, the recent succession of accidents in Japan and South Korea has made it difficult for the United States to continue in this regard.
As for the specific cause of the accident in South Korea, it is necessary for the US military stationed in South Korea to further investigate. We will continue to monitor this matter closely.