Boeing to send more QF-16 target drones to Air Force

Boeing will provide the Air Force with 18 more QF-16 Full-Scale Aerial Targets by April 2021 under a $24.7 million contract option the service activated last month, extending the existing contract to November 2020, a company spokesman wrote in an April 6 email.

The unmanned fighters are created by converting retired Lockheed Martin F-16 jets into aircraft used in missile system lethality testing and manned training.

This is the fifth option of a multiyear initial engineering, manufacturing and development contract for up to 126 QF-16s.

The Pentagon announced the most recent award March 22.