Turkey pivots to domestic upgrades in F‑16 modernization plan
Ankara has decided to withdraw from purchasing 79 modernization packages for F-16 aircraft. This was announced by Turkey's Defence Minister Yasar Guler, who mentioned that his country is also interested in acquiring 40 new F-35 fighters.
Earlier this year, the United States agreed to deliver 40 F-16 fighters to Turkey and 79 kits to upgrade its existing F-16 aircraft. The decision followed approval by the U.S. Congress and the State Department, previously making it conditional on Turkey's ratification of Sweden's application for NATO membership.
Change in Turkey's F-16 plans
To fully understand the situation, one must revisit the fall of 2021. At that time, Ankara requested 40 F-16 Block 70 fighters and 79 modernization kits from Washington to upgrade its older F-16 models to the Block 70 standard. This request came after Turkey was excluded from the F-35 fighter program due to its purchase of Russian S-400 air defence systems.
While Turkey has cancelled the purchase of modernization packages, it has not abandoned plans to upgrade its F-16s. Seeking cost savings, Ankara decided to depend on solutions from its domestic arms manufacturing facilities.
"An initial payment has been made for the procurement of F-16 Block-70. A payment of $1.4 (CAD 2) billion has been made. With this, we will buy 40 F-16 Block-70 Viper and we were going to buy 79 modernisation kits. We gave up on this 79. This is why we gave up: Our Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) facilities are capable of carrying out this modernisation on their own, so we deferred to them," Guler said, as quoted by Reuters.
Turkey still seeks F-35
The head of Turkey's defence department emphasized that Ankara remains interested in rejoining the F-35 program and purchasing 40 new aircraft of this type. The Duvar service reported that the advanced state of the Turkish fifth-generation fighter project, named KAAN, encourages the U.S. to consider selling F-35s to Turkey.
KAAN is a fighter plane measuring about 21 metres in length and 14 metres in wingspan, powered by two General Electric engines. The Turks claim it will enable pilots to achieve speeds of approximately 1.8 Mach and operate within a range exceeding 1,000 kilometres. The aircraft is expected to feature an AESA radar, advanced navigation functions, and capacity to carry various types of weaponry. However, its actual capabilities remain untested, unlike the already well-regarded F-35 fighter.
As noted by Reuters, Turkey's air fleet, consisting of over 200 F-16 fighters in older versions, represents one of the largest contingents of these aircraft in the world. Ankara's ambitions also extend to the purchase of Eurofighter Typhoon fighters, which are produced by a German-British-Italian-Spanish consortium.
