Final QF-16 Target Drone Delivery Gives U.S. Air Force a Decade of Live-Fire Training Capability
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The U.S. Air Force has received the final QF-16 full-scale aerial target, completing a 15-year conversion program for 127 retired F-16s. The delivery ensures a long-term supply of realistic threat aircraft for weapons testing and high-intensity training.
On 5 December 2025, the U.S. Air Force marked a symbolic turning point in its air combat training by taking delivery of the final QF-16 full-scale aerial target, as reported by Boeing. This last aircraft concludes a 15-year effort to convert 127 retired F-16s into remotely operated “threat” jets for live-fire exercises. The milestone is more than a production endpoint: it secures a fleet of realistic, fighter-sized targets for at least the next decade, at a time when air forces are preparing for high-intensity operations against near-peer adversaries. For the U.S. military and its allies, the QF-16 fleet has become a central tool for validating new weapons, sensors and tactics in conditions impossible to reproduce in simulators alone.
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The final QF-16 delivery completes the Air Force fleet of fighter-sized target drones, securing realistic live fire training and weapons testing for years to come (Picture Source: Boeing)
Born from retired F-16A/B airframes, the QF-16 programme was launched in 2010 to provide a successor to the ageing QF-4 Phantom II full-scale aerial targets. Instead of sending surplus fighters straight to the scrapyard, the U.S. Air Force and Boeing opted to regenerate them. Each airframe is returned to flightworthy condition before drone-specific systems are integrated. The result is the only full-scale aerial target in the U.S. government inventory, able to replicate the performance and signatures of fourth-generation fighters far more accurately than sub-scale drones. For engineers accustomed to working on aircraft they designed themselves, learning the intricacies of the Lockheed-built F-16 and adapting it for unmanned operations has been a technical and organisational challenge in its own right.
At Boeing’s conversion lines in Florida and Arizona, each former frontline F-16 goes through a multi-stage process. After regeneration from storage at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base’s boneyard, technicians strip the jet for inspection, overhaul key systems and install “drone peculiar equipment”: remote command and control, autopilot, telemetry, scoring systems and a flight-termination device for range safety. The aircraft remains optionally piloted, allowing test pilots to ferry and verify the jet in manned mode before it flies as a pure drone, reducing technical risk and easing maintenance checks. Once accepted by the Air Force, the QF-16 joins units such as the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base or its detachment at Holloman, where ground crews can task it to fly pre-programmed profiles, execute high-G manoeuvres and, when required, absorb live missile shots.
Operationally, the QF-16 offers something that no simulator can yet fully reproduce: the ability to measure the behaviour of real weapons, sensors and networks against an agile, supersonic, fighter-sized target. The aircraft is used to validate modern air-to-air missiles, stress-test radar and infrared sensors, and rehearse complex kill chains linking fighters, airborne early-warning platforms and ground-based air-defence units. It has also been used to train pilots from allied air forces, who can participate in exercises in which missiles are genuinely fired and sometimes expend the drone. In an era marked by dense air-defence networks and high-end fighter threats in theatres ranging from Eastern Europe to the Indo-Pacific, such full-scale targets offer a rare opportunity to rehearse engagements under conditions that resemble real combat more closely than any simulator. For the operators on the range, each destroyed QF-16 represents both the end of an airframe’s life and a data-rich event that helps refine tactics and weapon designs for future combat.
From an industrial perspective, the delivery of the 127th and last QF-16 closes a production chapter but opens an extended sustainment phase. Boeing teams who have followed the programme from its first prototype describe a 15-year journey that required close daily coordination with Air Force quality and engineering personnel, as well as resilience in the face of ageing-fleet issues, supply-chain disruptions and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company now pivots from production to long-term support through Boeing Global Services, focusing on keeping the fleet airworthy, maintaining the drone-specific equipment and ensuring compliance with range-safety standards for at least another decade. For many engineers and technicians, the transition from production to sustainment is also a way to follow the aircraft they built into the next phase of their operational life.
Strategically, the QF-16 programme illustrates how legacy combat aircraft can be repurposed to address the demands of modern, high-end warfare. As potential near-peer adversaries field increasingly capable fighters and long-range surface-to-air missiles, Western air forces need training environments that mirror these threats as closely as possible. Full-scale targets like the QF-16 enable realistic rehearsal of complex scenarios, such as penetrating integrated air-defence systems or defending carrier strike groups against coordinated raids. For allies who train alongside the United States, the availability of these targets underpins interoperability and demonstrates that new missiles and sensors have been validated against demanding, manoeuvring targets rather than idealised models. At the same time, the U.S. Air Force’s exploration of stealthier, next-generation target drones positions the QF-16 fleet as both a critical current asset and a bridge toward future test and evaluation architectures.
Beyond the purely technical dimension, the programme also carries a wider message about defence resource management. By extending the utility of retired F-16s, the QF-16 has allowed the U.S. military to extract maximum value from airframes already paid for, while avoiding the cost and complexity of designing a dedicated target aircraft from scratch. For Boeing and its partners in the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and foreign customer community, the final delivery is a shared achievement: 127 aircraft converted, thousands of flight hours accumulated and a generation of weapons and tactics validated under live-fire conditions. Even as the conversion line shuts down, the “Zombie Vipers” will continue to fly and, in many cases, be sacrificed on instrumented ranges so that operational crews are better prepared for the realities of contested airspace.
The last QF-16 leaving the factory does not signal the end of the story, but rather the start of its final and perhaps most important phase in service. With a mature fleet now available and a sustainment framework in place, the U.S. Air Force and its allies retain a rare capability: the capacity to test and train against full-scale fighter targets at a time when the margin for error in air combat is shrinking. The transformation of retired F-16s into advanced aerial targets underlines that innovation in defence is as much about reinventing existing platforms as it is about fielding new ones, especially when preparing aircrews for the realities of increasingly contested skies.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
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The U.S. Air Force has received the final QF-16 full-scale aerial target, completing a 15-year conversion program for 127 retired F-16s. The delivery ensures a long-term supply of realistic threat aircraft for weapons testing and high-intensity training.
On 5 December 2025, the U.S. Air Force marked a symbolic turning point in its air combat training by taking delivery of the final QF-16 full-scale aerial target, as reported by Boeing. This last aircraft concludes a 15-year effort to convert 127 retired F-16s into remotely operated “threat” jets for live-fire exercises. The milestone is more than a production endpoint: it secures a fleet of realistic, fighter-sized targets for at least the next decade, at a time when air forces are preparing for high-intensity operations against near-peer adversaries. For the U.S. military and its allies, the QF-16 fleet has become a central tool for validating new weapons, sensors and tactics in conditions impossible to reproduce in simulators alone.
The final QF-16 delivery completes the Air Force fleet of fighter-sized target drones, securing realistic live fire training and weapons testing for years to come (Picture Source: Boeing)
Born from retired F-16A/B airframes, the QF-16 programme was launched in 2010 to provide a successor to the ageing QF-4 Phantom II full-scale aerial targets. Instead of sending surplus fighters straight to the scrapyard, the U.S. Air Force and Boeing opted to regenerate them. Each airframe is returned to flightworthy condition before drone-specific systems are integrated. The result is the only full-scale aerial target in the U.S. government inventory, able to replicate the performance and signatures of fourth-generation fighters far more accurately than sub-scale drones. For engineers accustomed to working on aircraft they designed themselves, learning the intricacies of the Lockheed-built F-16 and adapting it for unmanned operations has been a technical and organisational challenge in its own right.
At Boeing’s conversion lines in Florida and Arizona, each former frontline F-16 goes through a multi-stage process. After regeneration from storage at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base’s boneyard, technicians strip the jet for inspection, overhaul key systems and install “drone peculiar equipment”: remote command and control, autopilot, telemetry, scoring systems and a flight-termination device for range safety. The aircraft remains optionally piloted, allowing test pilots to ferry and verify the jet in manned mode before it flies as a pure drone, reducing technical risk and easing maintenance checks. Once accepted by the Air Force, the QF-16 joins units such as the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base or its detachment at Holloman, where ground crews can task it to fly pre-programmed profiles, execute high-G manoeuvres and, when required, absorb live missile shots.
Operationally, the QF-16 offers something that no simulator can yet fully reproduce: the ability to measure the behaviour of real weapons, sensors and networks against an agile, supersonic, fighter-sized target. The aircraft is used to validate modern air-to-air missiles, stress-test radar and infrared sensors, and rehearse complex kill chains linking fighters, airborne early-warning platforms and ground-based air-defence units. It has also been used to train pilots from allied air forces, who can participate in exercises in which missiles are genuinely fired and sometimes expend the drone. In an era marked by dense air-defence networks and high-end fighter threats in theatres ranging from Eastern Europe to the Indo-Pacific, such full-scale targets offer a rare opportunity to rehearse engagements under conditions that resemble real combat more closely than any simulator. For the operators on the range, each destroyed QF-16 represents both the end of an airframe’s life and a data-rich event that helps refine tactics and weapon designs for future combat.
From an industrial perspective, the delivery of the 127th and last QF-16 closes a production chapter but opens an extended sustainment phase. Boeing teams who have followed the programme from its first prototype describe a 15-year journey that required close daily coordination with Air Force quality and engineering personnel, as well as resilience in the face of ageing-fleet issues, supply-chain disruptions and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company now pivots from production to long-term support through Boeing Global Services, focusing on keeping the fleet airworthy, maintaining the drone-specific equipment and ensuring compliance with range-safety standards for at least another decade. For many engineers and technicians, the transition from production to sustainment is also a way to follow the aircraft they built into the next phase of their operational life.
Strategically, the QF-16 programme illustrates how legacy combat aircraft can be repurposed to address the demands of modern, high-end warfare. As potential near-peer adversaries field increasingly capable fighters and long-range surface-to-air missiles, Western air forces need training environments that mirror these threats as closely as possible. Full-scale targets like the QF-16 enable realistic rehearsal of complex scenarios, such as penetrating integrated air-defence systems or defending carrier strike groups against coordinated raids. For allies who train alongside the United States, the availability of these targets underpins interoperability and demonstrates that new missiles and sensors have been validated against demanding, manoeuvring targets rather than idealised models. At the same time, the U.S. Air Force’s exploration of stealthier, next-generation target drones positions the QF-16 fleet as both a critical current asset and a bridge toward future test and evaluation architectures.
Beyond the purely technical dimension, the programme also carries a wider message about defence resource management. By extending the utility of retired F-16s, the QF-16 has allowed the U.S. military to extract maximum value from airframes already paid for, while avoiding the cost and complexity of designing a dedicated target aircraft from scratch. For Boeing and its partners in the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and foreign customer community, the final delivery is a shared achievement: 127 aircraft converted, thousands of flight hours accumulated and a generation of weapons and tactics validated under live-fire conditions. Even as the conversion line shuts down, the “Zombie Vipers” will continue to fly and, in many cases, be sacrificed on instrumented ranges so that operational crews are better prepared for the realities of contested airspace.
The last QF-16 leaving the factory does not signal the end of the story, but rather the start of its final and perhaps most important phase in service. With a mature fleet now available and a sustainment framework in place, the U.S. Air Force and its allies retain a rare capability: the capacity to test and train against full-scale fighter targets at a time when the margin for error in air combat is shrinking. The transformation of retired F-16s into advanced aerial targets underlines that innovation in defence is as much about reinventing existing platforms as it is about fielding new ones, especially when preparing aircrews for the realities of increasingly contested skies.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
