US clears upgrading of Turkish Air Force F-16 fighters.

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency on April 17 announced that the State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Türkiye of defense articles and services to support upgrading its current fleet of F-16C/D aircraft and related equipment for an estimated cost of $259 million.

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A Turkish Air Force F-16C takes off from Konya Air Base, during Exercise Anatolian Eagle (Picture source: Wikipedia/ SAC Helen Farrer, RAF Mobile News Team/MoD)

The Government of Türkiye has requested to buy defense articles and services to support its current fleet of F-16C/D aircraft, to include software upgrades of the Operational Flight Program (OFP) avionics with the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (AGCAS) capability; hardware modifications to enable integration of the Multifunctional Information Distribution System Block Upgrade II (MIDS BU II), procured separately; hardware and software upgrades to include aircraft major modification; both classified and unclassified software and software support; integration and test support; support equipment; training and training equipment; spare and repair parts; publications and technical documentation; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistical support services; and other related elements of logistical and program support. The estimated total cost is $259 million.

The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. Implementation of this sale will not require the assignment of U.S. Government or contractor representatives in Türkiye.

In 1987, Turkiye received its first F-16 Fighting Falcon under the 'Peace Onyx-1' deal, further examples have been locally produced through Turkish Aerospace Industries. The F-16 modernization project covers the avionics modernization of F-16 Block 30 fighter jets inventory (IFF System, Mission Computer, Color Multifunction Display...). The ÖzgürR project also plans to use the MURAD AESA radar developed by Aselsan in the F-16 Block 30 fighter jets, which will be modernized within the scope of the priority Özgür project. It will be applied also to block 40 and 50s. Özgür project is local equivalent to block 70 configuration.