What engine did the F-15 and F-16 share?

Short answer

The Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan: one of the YF-16's advantages over the YF-17 was precisely that it used the same powerplant as the F-15, and that commonality would lower engine costs for both programs. The version installed in the YF-16 is the F100-PW-200, an afterburning turbofan.

Published: November 1, 2026 · Updated: November 1, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

What engine did the F-15 and F-16 share?

A USAF F-16 pilot breaking right on final approach over northern Las Vegas

A powerplant common to two programs

One of the YF-16's advantages over the YF-17 was its use of the Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan, the same powerplant used by the F-15, a commonality that would lower engine costs for both programs. In the YF-16, the specific version was the F100-PW-200, an afterburning turbofan. The air intake that feeds it, of fixed geometry and pitot type, is lighter and simpler than variable-geometry designs, at the cost of poorer pressure-recovery performance at higher Mach numbers.

The competition where it was decided

Northrop's YF-17 prototypes made their first flights on 9 June and 21 August 1974. In the comparative fly-off between the two aircraft, the YF-16s completed 330 sorties and a total of 417 flight hours, while the YF-17s logged 288 sorties and 345 hours. The YF-16 moved from one manoeuvre to the next significantly faster and was the unanimous choice. The YF-17, for its part, was later developed into the YF-18 for the Navy.