How fast does the F-16 fly?

The U.S. Air Force lists the F-16 Fighting Falcon's maximum speed as 1,500 mph, roughly 2,400 km/h or "Mach 2+" at altitude, with a ceiling above 50,000 ft (15,000 m). That's a design and certification limit: the F-16's fixed air intake, without the movable ramps of an F-15 or a MiG-25, doesn't perform well beyond Mach 2, and the airframe and polycarbonate canopy also impose a thermal limit. At sea level dense air cuts that limit to about Mach 1.2, roughly 1,470 km/h, already bounded by dynamic pressure on the airframe rather than by lack of thrust. The engine, a Pratt & Whitney F100 or a General Electric F110 depending on the version, delivers more than 120 kN with afterburner, and with an empty weight under 9 tonnes the F-16 has a thrust-to-weight ratio above one with a light load, which was exceptional back in 1974.

Almost no operational F-16 gets close to Mach 2 outside of testing. On a typical mission it takes off at around 280 km/h, climbs and cruises at 800-900 km/h, about Mach 0.8, which is where fuel burn per kilometre is lowest and where external tanks fit, limiting speed to subsonic or barely supersonic values. Modern air combat is fought between Mach 0.8 and 1.2: that's the band where the aircraft turns best, sustaining 9 g, and where a launched missile inherits useful energy. Afterburner is used in bursts of seconds or a few minutes, for a short takeoff, an interception acceleration or escaping a threat, because with it fuel consumption multiplies and the internal fuel load, about 3,200 kg, would run out in under a quarter of an hour.

The F-15 Eagle, designed as a pure interceptor, reaches Mach 2.5; the MiG-29, the F-16's direct rival, Mach 2.3; the Mirage 2000, Mach 2.2. The F-16 is, therefore, one of the slower lightweight fighters of its generation in top speed, yet it has been the best-selling, with more than 4,600 units produced since 1976, because its design prioritised manoeuvrability, range and cost. Current versions, the Block 70/72 that Lockheed Martin builds in Greenville, keep exactly the same speed limits as the 1974 YF-16: for a fighter, top speed stopped being the selling point decades ago.