Charcoal Lizard Vipers

In late 1978 and early 1979 TAC experimented with a Euro One style camouflage on two early Block 01 F-16s, F-16A 78-0008 and F-16B 78-0096 with the 388 TFW at Hill AFB, tail code HL. The scheme was known as the "Charcoal Lizard" and the "Pickle". The Lizard scheme was effective over forest canopy but made the jets more visible than the standard gray scheme against other terrain or the sky. The jets were re-painted in the standard three-tone gray after the test.

In the fall of 1988 TAC performed a CAS/BAI (Close Air Support / Battlefield Air Interdiction) test with FSD #8 F-16B 75-0752 and seven Block 25 F-16Cs. Six of the F-16Cs were 83-1128, 83-1129, 83-1130, 83-1131, 83-1132 and 83-1144. All but one of the F-16Cs were from Luke AFB, the seventh (83-1144) was from Shaw AFB. All eight aircraft were painted in a scheme very similar to the Charcoal Lizard scheme. The F-16B was equipped with an internally mounted, head-slaved FLIR system called Falcon Eye, a digital terrain matching navigation system (TerProm), an Automated Target Handoff System (ATHS), and a Martin Marietta Pathfinder FLIR pod on the right side of the inlet (STA 5). The seven F-16Cs were equipped with AN/AAS-35 PAVE PENNY laser tracking pods on the right side of the inlet (STA 5R) and GPU-5/A 30mm gun pods carried on the fuselage centerline (STA 5). All seven F-16Cs wore WA tailcodes during the trials. After the trials 83-1144 returned the Shaw and the WA was replaced with the SW tailcode. All seven F-16Cs were later re-painted in the standard three-tone gray.

FSD #8 F-16B 75-0752 retained it's CAS/BAI camouflage paint and was used as a demonstrator/test aircraft by General Dynamics. At some point the tailcode GD was added to the jet.

Use the menu on the left to select the different pictures of these aircraft. Note the color variations in the different photos, making it difficult to determine the true colors.

In November 2004 Two Bobs released a 1:48 scale decal sheet based on much of the information contained on this website.