U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Miranda A. Loera, 28OCT2019.
On 28OCT2019 the 64th Aggressor Squadron (Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada) revealed their new ‘Wraith’ paint-job for the F-16.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Bryan Guthrie, 16NOV2019.
The paint scheme resembles the late World War Two/Korean conflict U.S. night fighter paint-job; black with red markings. However, in WW-2/Korea the black was glossy as U.S. Army Air Force studies revealed that amazingly glossy black actually was harder to see from the ground with search lights, than a flat/matte (‘nonspecular’ as it was called back then) black. The new F-16 Wraith uses flat black.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Bryan Guthrie, 16NOV2019.
https://www.facebook.com/NellisAFB/videos/3030768496950918/?t=0
The commander of the 57th Wing crowdsourced the new livery to be applied to the 64th Aggressor Squadron’s F-16C. But it’s not the first time an F-16 was painted black (New Black And Red Aggressor Paint Job).
USAF photo by Senior Airman Dylan Murakami, 08MAR2021.
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Alexandre Montes, 17MAR2021.
