F-16 Fighting Falcon is a General Electric F110 Afterburning Turbofan Jet Engine. The General Electric F110 is an afterburning turbofan jet engine produced by GE Aviation.
The F110 engine uses the same engine core design as the General Electric F101. The F118 is a non-afterburning variant. The engine is also license-built in Eskisehir, Turkey by TUSAŞ Engine Industries (TEI)
The F-16 Fighting Falcon entered service powered by the Pratt & Whitney F100 afterburning turbofan. Seeking a way to drive unit costs down, the USAF implemented the Alternative Fighter Engine (AFE) program in 1984, under which the engine contract would be awarded through competition. The F110 currently powers 86% of the USAF F-16C/Ds.
Related link: Jet Engine, How it works? (Type of jet engine )
The F110-GE-100 provides around 4,000 lbf more thrust than the F100-PW-200 and requires more air, which led to the increase in the area of the engine intake.
The F-16C/D Block 30/32s were the first to be built with a common engine bay, able to accept both engines, with block 30s having the bigger intake (known as “Big Mouth”) and block 32s retaining the standard intake.
In addition, Initial orders were for the F110-GE-100 rated at 28,000 lbf. Later versions of the F110 include the F110-GE-129 delivering 29,400 lbf thrust and the F110-GE-132 delivering 32,000 lbf
Furthermore, The United Arab Emirates’ Block 60 is powered by the General Electric F110-GE-132 turbofan, which is rated at a maximum thrust of 32,500 lbf, the most powerful variant of General Electric F110 engine.
