In the second half of the 1970s, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway began searching for a replacement for the F-104 Starfighter. An agreement was later signed between these countries and the United States to manufacture the F-16A in Europe. Norway received 60 F-16As and 12 F-16Bs, which were built on Fokker’s production line in the Netherlands and delivered between January 1980 and June 1984. The first F-16 for the Royal Norwegian Air Force took its maiden flight on December 12, 1979. All of the early Block 1 and Block 5 series aircraft were subsequently upgraded to the F-16A Block 10 standard. Later, all fighters were modernized under the Mid-Life Update (MLU) program.

The Norwegian F-16A was introduced in Update 2.55 "Ninth Wave" as a part of the Swedish Aviation Research Tree. It is almost identical to the American or Belgian F-16A and is a versatile, multi-role fighter capable of performing a wide range of combat missions. It excels in this regard thanks to its excellent dynamics, high top speed, impressive climb rate, and a decent payload. However, it has mediocre maneuverability at high speeds and is unable to engage in combat at medium range due to its lack of medium-range air-to-air missiles (SARH).