Turkey completes major F-16 upgrade programme
13 April 2015
The Turkish Air Force received its final upgraded Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon on 10 April during a ceremony at Turkish Aerospace Industries' (TAI's) facility in Ankara.
In total, 163 Turkish F-16 fighter aircraft were upgraded under the Peace Onyx III (PO-III) programme at a cost of about USD1.1 billion.
PO-III included the upgrade of all Turkey's Block 40 and Block 50 F-16s to a standard similar to the United States Air Force's Common Configuration Implementation Program (CCIP) standard.
This included the installation of the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-68(V)9 multimode radar; modifications to enable the carriage of a wider weapons fit (including the AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile); Link 16 datalink; colour cockpit displays and recorders; the Joint-Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) and AN/ANVS-9 night-vision goggles; identification friend-or-foe (IFF) systems; an integrated navigation and electronic warfare system; and new core-avionics processors.
An initial Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for PO-III was signed between Turkey and the United States in April 2005, although the programme was not finalised and entered into force until 2009.
Of the 163 F-16s to undergo the PO-III improvement programme, 147 were upgraded by TAI at the Ankara facility, with 16 aircraft undergoing the process at the Turkish Air Force's 1st Air Maintenance and Supply Centre in Eskisehir.
Although PO-III included the upgrade of the remaining Block 40/50 aircraft bought under the PO-I and PO-II programmes, it did not include the country's Block 30 aircraft purchased under PO-I.
However, Turkish Air Force Commander General Akin Öztürk said during the delivery ceremony that Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had approved a project for the modernisation of the Block 30 aircraft (of which around 30 remain in service) on 9 April.
Turkey also operates 30 Block 50+ F-16s bought under the PO-IV programme, of which the last was delivered in December 2012.