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Meeting	ACGS Committee Meeting 100 - Cocoa Beach - October 2007
Agenda Location	7 SUBCOMMITTEE A – AERONAUTIC AND SURFACE VEHICLES 7.1 F-16 FBW Lessons Learned
Title	F-16 FBW Lessons Learned
Presenter	Carl Droste
Affiliation	Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Available Downloads*	presentation
	Downloads are available to members who are logged in and either Active* or attended this meeting.
Abstract	The YF-16 contract approach was unique in that two companies were contracted to build fighter aircraft that met very demanding performance goals, but were not subject to direct government supervision. The General Dynamics entry was the YF-16. Static instability was required to meet performance goals, which necessitated a fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system (FLCS). The program constraints required application of two basic concepts -- “Keep it Simple” (KIS) and “Good Enough” (GE). This presentation shows how these concepts manifested themselves in the “Side Stick Controller,” “Surface Actuation,” “Integrated System and On-Aircraft Testing Before First Flight,” and “FLCS computation.” The YF-16 concepts were then applied to the F-16. 4370 F-16s have been built so far and the F-16s have accumulated 13.4 million flight hours, which are a testimony to the KIS and GE concepts. This presentation also points out that by violation of the KIS and GE concepts used on the YF-16, the industry has probably escalated the design of FLCS past the point of diminishing returns in cost and safety. This presentation urges Government and Industry to stop current thinking, look at the problems of unnecessary complexity, and find ways to reverse these trends in the future.