Türkiye to get new F-16s, if Congress approves

During the 11-12 July 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave the green light for Sweden to join NATO.

For those who follow the developments and political course of Türkiye closely, the statement by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that “the US will move ahead with the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in consultation with Congress” did not come as a real surprise.

Back in February 2023, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken publicly confirmed that the Biden Administration supported a possible sale of F-16 fighter aircraft to Türkiye, and this has now gained traction after president Erdoğan agreed to drop his veto on Sweden joining NATO.

Dating back to October 2021, the Turkish government made inquiries to procure 40 new F-16s in the Block 70/72 “Viper” configuration and Viper upgrade packages for 79 existing Block 50/Block 50+ Fighting Falcons. The USD20 billion deal would also include 900 air-to-air missiles and 800 bombs.

In mid-May of this year, the Türk Hava Kuvvetleri (TurAF, Turkish Air Force) received the first F-16 Block 30 that was modernised with the indigenously developed Özgür (aptly translated to: “Free”) Project. Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayi (TUSAŞ or Turkish Aerospace Industries) developed the upgrade. Özgür-upgraded F-16s can fire indigenous ammunition and missiles which marks the independence that Ankara is seeking and the huge strides that the Turkish defense industry is making.

Although the Özgür upgrade is primarily intended to be applied to the Block 30 and Block 40 F-16s, it could potentially also be fitted in the Block 50 F-16 fleet if the US Congress would block the transfer of the upgrade kits.

Scramble Magazine assesses that if the US Congress approves the sale of new F-16Vs and upgrade kits to Türkiye that Greece will get the final green light for their request to buy up to 24 F-35A Lightning II aircraft.

Photo by Marco Dijkshoorn