The Lockheed-Martin F-16 is shown in Fig. 6.56 in a vertical accelerated climb. Some chara...

The Lockheed-Martin F-16 is shown in Fig. 6.56 in a vertical accelerated climb. Some characteristics of this airplane from Jane's All the World Aircraft are: Wing area = 27.87 m2, typical combat weight = 8,273kgf, sea level static thrust from the single GE F110 jet engine = 131.6 kN. (Note that Jane's quotes the weight in units of kilogram force; see Section 2.4 for a discussion of this unit.) Assume that the subsonic value of the zero-drag coefficient is 0.016 (consistent with the data shown in Fig. 6.73). Also assume that the transonic value of the zero- lift drag coefficient at Mach one is 2.3 times its subsonic value, a typical increase that occurs in the drag-divergence transonic flight region. For these conditions, is it possible for the F-16 to break the speed of sound going straight up?

Figure 6.56 General Dynamics F-16 in 90◦ vertical accelerated climb.(Source: U.S. Air Force.)

Figure 6.73 Use of zero-lift drag coefficient to illustrate three general periods of 20th-century airplane design. The numbered data points correspond to the following aircraft: (1) SPAD XIII, (2) Fokker D-VII, (3) Curtiss JN-4H Jenny, (4) Ryan NYP (Spirit of St. Louis), (5) Lockheed Vega, (6) Douglas DC-3, (7) Boeing B-17, (8) Boeing B-29, (9) North American P-51, (10) Lockheed P-80, (11) North American F-86, (12) Lockheed F-104, (13) McDonnell F-4E, (14) Boeing B-52, (15) General Dynamics F-111D.