Lockheed Martin announced on Apr. 12 that the U.S. Air Force has authorized the extend of the designed service life of the F-16 Block 42-52 aircraft to 12,000 Equivalent Flight Hours.
By U.S. Air Force photo/SSgt Clay Lancaster [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
This is 4,000 more hours added to the aircraft’s original design service life of 8,000 hours.
After undergoing the F-16 Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) structural modifications, each aircraft can operate to 2048 and beyond.