“The F-16 Fighting Falcon proved itself to be a versatile platform which can attack targets day or night--- in good or bad weather. Two hundred and forty-nine F-16s were deployed to the Gulf. These aircraft flew almost 13,500 sorties --- the highest sortie total for any system in the war --- and maintained a 95.2% mission capable rate --- 5 % above its peacetime rate. F-16s attacked ground elements in the KTO, flew SCUD missions, and destroyed interdiction targets, such as military production and support and chemical production facilities, and airfields. The 72 LANTIRN capable (Navigation pods only) F-16s were a real success story. LANTIRN's mission capable rate was over 98%. Past emphasis on reliability and maintainability paid dividends here.” ³³