USAF Patch Test F 16 57 FWW MOTE Multinational Operational Test

USAF Patch 57 FWW Fighter Weapons Wing F 16 MOTE Multinational Operational Test And Evaluation Team RNLAF RNoAF RDAF BAF Hill AFB 1978 Asian Made Embroidered on twill merrowed edge 117mm by 124mm four and five eighth inches by four and seven eighth inches.

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The governments of Belgium Denmark the Netherlands Norway and the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding MOU on 10 June 1975 for the procurement and production of the F 16 fighter aircraft. The programme established the Operational Subcommittee in November 1976 which integrated Multinational involvement in all operational aspects of the development testing deployment modifications training and tactics relating to the F I6.

The first F 16 Full Scale Development FSD aircraft undertook the first stage Development Test and Evaluation DT&E at the Air Force Test and Evaluation Center AFTEC Edwards AFB by the F 16 Joint Test Force JTF with one qualified pilot from each of the four European Participating Air Forces EPAF participating in the early testing.

The F 16 Follow on Operational Test and Evaluation FOT&E Phase One was conducted at Edwards AFB from 12 October 1977 to 24 January 1979.

The next stage was the European Test & Evaluation ET&E with USAF and EPAF pilots deployed to operating locations at Air Bases in Norway Denmark Germany and England from 9 February to 25 May 1979 to test the F 16 in a variety of different European terrains weather conditions and aircraft shelters against other EPAF target or aggressor fighter aircraft. This element turned out to be most significant part of the early testing generating solutions to problems including radar equipment affected by terrain as well as showing participating countries the great benefits from the multinational nature of the project.

The next testing elements the FOT&E Phase Two and the Tactics Development and Evaluation were combined to be undertaken by the Multinational Operational Test and Evaluation MOT&E activated in January 1979 at Hill AFB assigned to 57 Fighter Weapons Wing at Nellis AFB and was initially known as 57 FWW Detachment 16. MOTE was equipped with two US and four European Participating Air Forces EPAF F 16 aircraft manned by US pilots and EPAF pilots from the Netherlands Belgium Norway and Denmark to carry out the operational tactics development and evaluation phase of the F 16 introduction following the successful Development Test and Evaluation DT&E by F 16 Joint Test Force JTF USAF Air Force Test and Evaluation Center AFTEC and Follow on Operational Test and Evaluation FOT&E Phase One conducted at Edwards AFB from 12 October 1977 to 24 January 1979.

MOTE US and EPAF pilots undertook initial pilot training with 388 Tactical Fighter Wing TFWs 16 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron TFTS and MOTE fighter weapons exercises were conducted at the nearby Air Combat Manoeuvering Instrumentation ACMI range at Nellis AFB. MOTE support personnel came from all five participating Air Forces with maintenance personnel assigned to 388 Headquarters Support Squadron at Hill AFB.

The operational testing US phase was undertaken at Hill AFB between January 1979 and June 1980 and the European phase from June 1980 to December 1980 to with US and EPAF produced F 16s carrying out European mission scenarios deploying to operate from four different locations Rygge AFB Norway Skrydstrup AFB Denmark Leeuwarden AFB Netherlands and Kleine Brogel AFB Belgium.

The operational testing in Europe was a great success revealing weapon system issues that were easily corrected early in the production run developed a common baseline for operational tactics with MOTEs Multinational Tactics Manual and installed great confidence in the aircraft performance and multinational cooperation.

Multinational F 16 Operational Test and Evaluation Team MOTE was inactivated in December 1980.

This patch dates from 1978.