Air Force to honor F-16 with Air Power Legacy Series in 2025

8/1/2025

We wanted a fighter that could out-turn anything in the sky. The F-16 is that fighter.

Harry Hillaker, Chief Designer of the F-16

Air Force to honor F-16 Fighting Falcon with 2025 edition of Air Power Legacy Series

The Air Force football team will honor the Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon with the 2025 edition of the Air Power Legacy Series uniform. The Falcons will wear the special uniform for the Navy game scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 4, at Noon ET at Navy Marine-Corps Memorial Stadium. The game will be nationally televised on CBS.

The helmet replicates a fighter pilot’s helmet with the front bumper featuring a silhouette of the F-16. The front of the helmet replicates the visor cover with the F-16 Fighting Falcon patch and the word “Psycho,” which is the call sign of Col. William Andrews, an F-16 hero shot down in Operation Desert Storm. The back bumper features the word “Viper,” a common nickname for the aircraft.

The hip of the pants features the roundel symbol. “Viper” appears down one leg while the other leg features “Fighting Falcon”, the official name of the F-16. The jersey front has Air Force, along with the player’s name and the patch of the corresponding squadron represented. The sleeve has the American flag and squadron patch of the base represented. The back of the jersey has the tail flash of the fighter squadron.

There are three bases, two squadrons, and two wings represented: the 120th Fighter Squadron and 140th Wing from Buckley SFB, Colo.; the 555th Fighter Squadron from Aviano Air Base, Italy; and the 20th Fighter Wing from Shaw AFB, S.C.

The models used in the creative assets for this uniform release are not USAFA cadets. One of the models is a F-16 pilot.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact, multi-role fighter aircraft. It is highly maneuverable and has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. It provides a relatively low-cost, high-performance weapon system for the United States and allied nations.

The F-16 can locate targets in all weather conditions and detect low flying aircraft in radar ground clutter. In an air-to-surface role, the F-16 can fly more than 500 miles (860 kilometers), deliver its weapons with superior accuracy, defend itself against enemy aircraft, and return to its starting point. An all-weather capability allows it to accurately deliver ordnance during non-visual bombing conditions.

In designing the F-16, advanced aerospace science and proven reliable systems from other aircraft such as the F-15 and F-111 were selected. These were combined to simplify the airplane and reduce its size, purchase price, maintenance costs and weight. The light weight of the fuselage is achieved without reducing its strength. With a full load of internal fuel, the F-16 can withstand up to nine G's -- nine times the force of gravity -- which exceeds the capability of other current fighter aircraft.

The cockpit and its bubble canopy give the pilot unobstructed forward and upward vision, and greatly improved vision over the side and to the rear. The seat-back angle was expanded from the usual 13 degrees to 30 degrees, increasing pilot comfort and gravity force tolerance. The pilot has excellent flight control of the F-16 through its "fly-by-wire" system. Electrical wires relay commands, replacing the usual cables and linkage controls. For easy and accurate control of the aircraft during high G-force combat maneuvers, a side stick controller is used instead of the conventional center-mounted stick. Hand pressure on the side stick controller sends electrical signals to actuators of flight control surfaces such as ailerons and rudder.

Avionics systems include a highly accurate enhanced global positioning and inertial navigation systems, or EGI, in which computers provide steering information to the pilot. The plane has UHF and VHF radios plus an instrument landing system. It also has a warning system and modular countermeasure pods to be used against airborne or surface electronic threats. The fuselage has space for additional avionics systems.

Honoring “Psycho”

“Psycho” is featured prominently on the helmet to honor William "Psycho" Andrews, a 1980 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. Andrews served three separate tours at Mountain Home Air Force Base, culminating with his final assignment as Commander of the 366th Operations Group from 2000 to 2002 during Operation Enduring Freedom.

During that time, he also served as the Commander of the 366th Expeditionary Operations Group—later the 366th Expeditionary Wing—leading the wing’s contingent of F-16CJ Fighting Falcons from Southwest Asia in the opening days of the operation. According to Air Command Combat, Andrews was one of the most decorated airmen of Operation Desert Storm, receiving the Air Force Cross for heroism after being shot down as a captain.

In 1991, during Desert Storm, Andrews became a prisoner of war. While still hanging in the straps of his parachute—and even after breaking a leg upon landing and coming under fire from advancing Iraqi ground troops—he continued communicating via his handheld radio, warning two other aircraft to break away and launch flares in response to incoming missiles.In recognition of his service and character, Andrews was selected as the exemplar for the Air Force Academy Class of 2025.

Air Power Legacy Series History

The Air Power Legacy Series began in the 2016 season with the football team wearing an alternate uniform to celebrate the Tiger Shark teeth nose-art which has been represented on multiple Air Force aircraft dating back to World War II. The helmets worn for the game featured a shark-teeth design like those painted on the aircraft.

While 2016 focused on the past, the Falcons honored the present, and future, of air power in 2017 with the F-35 theme. The F-35 completed its first flight in 2006. In 2012, the F-35 program increased to 30 aircraft. In 2016, the F-35A was declared combat ready by Gen. Hawk Carlisle, class of 1978, the commander of the Air Combat Command. The helmet had five different designs. On one side of every helmet will be the familiar Air Force logo often seen on aircraft, which includes the length-wise bars intersecting the roundel. On the other side was a decal representing one of the five Air Force F-35-A operational fighter squadrons in the Air Force.

The team honored the AC-130 in 2018. The helmet featured the AC-130 on one side, plus squadron patches on the other. The AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed, long-endurance ground-attack variant of the C-130 Hercules transport fixed-wing aircraft. It carries a wide array of anti-ground oriented weapons that are integrated with sophisticated sensors, navigation, and fire-control systems. Unlike other military fixed-wing aircraft, the AC-130 relies on visual targeting. Because its large profile and low operating altitudes (around 7,000 ft) make it an easy target, it usually flies close air support missions at night.

Air Force honored the C-17, a large military transport in 2019. The C-17 commonly performs tactical and strategic airlift missions, transporting troops and cargo throughout the world; additional roles include medical evacuation and airdrop duties. The C-17 is designed to operate from runways as short as 3,500 ft (1,100 m) and as narrow as 90 ft (27 m).

The Falcons honored the Tuskegee Airmen with the 2020 edition. The uniform was gray with black lettering. The chrome base gray helmet featured the P-51 aircraft flown by the Tuskegee Airmen in combat with signature red tails and nose that helped identify the group. The helmet featured the four squadron emblems for the 99th, 100th, 301st and 302nd fighter squadrons. The pants featured an authentic stenciled information graphic on the side. The custom nameplate on the jersey said Red Tails, inspired by hand-lettered names painted on the side of the P-51 aircraft.

The 2021 edition honored the B-52 Stratofortress. The helmet was designed after the B-52 that flew in Operation Linebacker II. The Strategic Air Command adorned the right check of the uniform while the name plate used the orange outline with airport codes for Anderson AFB, U Tapo and the 7th Bomber Wing patch to represent all former B-52 unites. The left pant leg featured 11 B-52 plane silhouettes representing the 11 days of bombing during the conflict. The right side pant leg had the tail flash of the plane and the number on each player’s pant leg matches their uniform number for the first time in the history of the series.

The 2022 edition honored the Space Force, which the U.S. Air Force Academy sends about 100 graduates to each year. The helmet featured the lightning bolt with a shared image between the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force, representing dominance, quick strike and precision. The jersey featured U.S. Space Force base patches on the left shoulder and a tonal United States flag on the right sleeve. The unit patches feature Space Base Delta 1 headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base and Space Base Delta 2 headquartered at Buckley Space Force Bases. The pants had a pair of blue vertical stripes with USSF down the middle in gray.

In 2023, Air Force honored the Doolittle Raiders, who were 80 pilots and crew of the 16 B-25B Mitchell bombers who launched the Doolittle Raid, April 18, 1942. Led by Army Air Force Lt. Col. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, the Raiders bombed selected targets in the Japanese capital of Tokyo and other military locations on the Japanese homeland.

The 2024 edition honored Air Special Operation Command. Air Force Special Operations Command, headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Florida, is the special operations component of the United States Air Force. AFSOC is also the service’s component to United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), a unified combatant command located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. AFSOC provides all Air Force Special Operations Forces (SOF) for worldwide deployment and assignment to regional unified combatant commands.