QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target – F-16 Based Drone

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the most expensive sporting clay on the planet!

This is an Air Force F-16 fighter jet that’s been outfitted with drone capabilities, making it easily the most advanced remotely-controlled aircraft we’ve ever witnessed. The QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target is going to be used for pilot training purposes and will also be a life sized, fully maneuverable target for the Air Force’s missiles. We can see several awesome ways to use it for pilot training by either putting the pilot into perilous situations and having him correct the plane, or using it to correct his mistakes in real time.

But what we really want to see is when they USAF turns its missiles on one of its own and shoots these things out of the sky. As a full size, flying target, this will be the truest test of the missiles’ capabilities to hit a nimble target like the F-16, and this is the only way to do it without putting a pilot squarely in the crosshairs. What better way to make sure our boys have the best chance to enter combat and come out victorious than to make sure our missiles can take out the baddest planes in the sky!