Lotta hostility in here. As a complete aside to the ongoing fight about special use airspace, civilian vs military traffic, etc, the news did report that the F-16 was in the process of executing an instrument approach. Not that all the other bickering is meaningless, but perhaps not applicable in this instance?
As for airspeed, aside from the MTR discussion, in a Viper on an instrument approach, I am not below 250 until I'm putting the gear down. It can fly below that airspeed in clean configuration, but it is really uncomfortable and just wallows around. Max endurance is somewhat lower than that, as well as engine out glide, but that would normally involve being up a higher altitude, not getting bumped around on an approach or having to dodge things like birds that can snuff out your only engine. Unlike a lot of other aircraft, there is no flap switch in the F-16, just the gear handle that also schedules flaps, approach/landing FLCS gains, etc, so you can't just drop a notch of flaps while holding the gear and comfortably slow down very much. It is not an airplane I, or anyone else I know, like to fly slow.......like everyone in aviation, no wise pilot wants to put him/herself in a corner without a backup plan, and flying a Viper slow and low is about the best way to have no options. Also, just like a slow moving Cessna, the F-16 is a pretty small airplane to pick up visually, especially given its faster airspeed. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say both pilots in question probably would have had a tough time seeing one another......especially after you factor in the generally poor visibility this time of year in that part of the country. We all talk a pretty big game about visual lookout and the like, but it is often difficult, regardless of what you are flying. Just some food for thought, without knowing the true circumstances that were present in this scenario.