A latest mission of High Aces’ F-16 N871TA supplied one other alternative to see the jet’s placing Felon-inspired livery.
As already reported intimately in our earlier story that you may learn right here, a High Aces’ former Israeli Air Power F-16A Netz plane was noticed flying for the primary time with a brand new adversary paint scheme clearly impressed by the Russian Su-57 Felon, on Aug. 4, 2025.
The F-16 N871TA flew from Mesa Gateway Airport, the place High Aces performs upkeep on its F-16s, to Luke AFB, Arizona after which carried out a native mission from Luke over Arizona beneath the callsign ACES 1. The photographs taken by our contributor William Ellison confirmed the low-visibility, splinter-style gray camouflage sample, just like that utilized by the Russian stealth fighter.
On the next day, the “Felon” F-16 launched on one other mission, once more utilizing the radio callsign ACES 1, and landed at Luke AFB after about an hour. Ellison was in a position to seize extra pictures of the jet, this time from the right-hand facet. The lighting situations, together with the vantage level, provided one other alternative to understand the gorgeous paint job of the adversary jet.
As noticed, the jet carries Soviet-style crimson stars on the tail and wings and, on the tail fin, a Cyrillic script that reads “Опыт Важен” (which interprets to “Expertise Issues”), a refined nod to High Aces’ core mission of offering extremely skilled pilots and real looking menace emulation for U.S. and allied forces. The identical inscription was already current on the plane’s earlier livery, which retained the unique Israeli camouflage utilized to the Netz jets. The MiG-23 kill marking earned in September 1981 is just current on the left hand facet of the plane.
Right here’s what we wrote concerning the F-16A Netz (Hawk) procured by High Aces in our earlier story concerning the Felon-inspired livery:
In 2021, High Aces Corp. obtained its first batch of 4 F-16 Combating Falcons from the Israeli Air Power, out of a complete order of 29 plane. These jets, had been delivered to the U.S. firm with unspecified configurations and subsequently upgraded to an ordinary that is named F-16 AAF (Superior Aggressor Fighter).
The enhancements included the proprietary Superior Aggressor Mission System (AAMS), which permits the F-16s to precisely replicate near-peer adversary fighters, enhancing coaching realism for U.S. pilots. This method, mixed with AESA radars, Scorpion Helmet Mounted Shows, datalinks, and digital countermeasures, supplies a complete suite of simulated superior threats, though the plane function in a clear configuration with simulated weapons solely. Curiously, the High Aces’ F-16s have been geared up with IRST pods since 2024.
Such upgrades make them credible surrogates for superior menace plane, such because the Su-35 or Su-57.
Contemplating that final 12 months we reported on one among their jets sporting a “Flanker Blue” shade scheme, impressed by the one utilized by some F-16s of the U.S. Air Power’s sixty fourth Aggressor Squadron at Nellis Air Power Base, Nevada, it’s cheap to imagine that High Aces will undertake further paint schemes past the Flanker Blue and Felon for its F-16 fleet.
