An Assesment Today and Future of Turkish Air Forces Celebrated its 100 th Anniversay
Commander, first of all we would like to thank you for your time. The Air Force Command is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2011. In this context, what preparations and activities is the Air Force Command planning? May we obtain your views on this subject?
The Turkish Air Force, founded in 1911, will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2011. At the 100th anniversary activities, the honor and excitement of 100th anniversary will be shared with our nation, as well as with the friendly and ally nations all around the world.
In this context;
European Air Chiefs Conference will be conducted on 01 June 2011 and Global Air Chiefs Conference will be conducted on 02 June 2011, both in ?stanbul. Commanders to attend these Conferences will be the spectators for the International Air Show which will be conducted on the 2nd Main Jet Base Command (Çi?li/Izmir) on 04 June 2011.
The International Air Show on 04-05 June 2011 will be one of the greatest air shows lately performed in Europe and open to public. Besides, National Air Shows in Eski?ehir and Diyarbak?r on the 1st and 2nd Air Force Commands’ foundation anniversaries are on our activity list.
Another activity is the Anatolian Eagle Training on 13-24 June 2011, in Konya. The training is planned to be conducted with broad participation from various countries.
Recent Advances in Space Technologies Conference (RAST-2011) will be held on 09-11 June 2011. A military-scientific project contest with the theme ‘imaging with a system which separates from a helium balloon’ will be held in coordination with TUBITAK. These activities represent the future vision of the Turkish Air Force “becoming one of the leading air and space powers in the world”.
Main theme of IDEF-2011 will be the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Air Force and capabilities of the Turkish Air Force will be displayed in a specific stand at the fair.
To remind the history of the Air Force to our nation and to our personnel and to commemorate our former Commanders and personnel, who expended great efforts for the level we have reached, an International History Symposium under the name “Turkish Air Force from Foundation to Today” will be conducted. “Female Officers in the Turkish Air Force History” and “Non-Commisioned Officers in the Turkish Air Force History” meetings, a documentary on the Turkish Air Force History, a historical uniform parade will be organized. Moreover, various introductory and historical albums, paintings depicting significant events in the Turkish Air Force history are other interesting themes for the grand anniversary.
Furthermore, a historical documentary of 6 episodes, a television program of 12 episodes, and “drama” will be prepared. A cinema movie related to lives of the Turkish Air Force personnel will be a surprise for 2011. I believe it will also be popular internationally.
Painting contest, plastic model aircraft contest, and future aircraft designing contest, all aimed at the students will be held and 100th Anniversary Memorial Forest will be planted as a social responsibility project.
Besides, a march and symphony will be composed in memory of the 100th anniversary and 100th Anniversary Monument will be built in Istanbul.
All these activities will be performed in line with the concept created by our motto “Turkish Air Force Competes with the Age” and logo symbolizing this.
While the Air Force Command is preparing for its 100th anniversary with enthusiastic celebrations, our Republic’s 100th anniversary is slowly approaching. Within this context, what type of a presence does the Air Force Command foresee in 2023? Would you share your assessment on this with us?
Up until 2023, important changes are planned in the force structure. These are;
- More UAS’s, F-35, Stand off Jammer (SOJ), Long Range Air Defense System, and AWACS will be integrated to the main combat force while the use of space will be enhanced with the reconnaissance and warning and control satellites.
- Strategic transport capability will be gained by use of A400M aircraft. With this capability Turkey will be able to send force to the regions of interest.
- KT-1 aircraft will be integrated to the flight training and simulators will be used more effectively. A more realistic training structure with less cost is designed with the use of computers and simulators.
- Integrated management of systems will be done by command and control systems which will enable faster decision making and more efficient operations management.
- Logistic system is redesigned inline with the integration of new systems and effective management is aimed with an agile logistic structure.
On the subject of regional threats and border security, a large role is placed on reconnaissance, surveillance and satellite systems. In this regard an important step was taken with the Göktürk Project. On the other hand, we know that the Air Force Command has an important role in aerospace work and that the Command supports R&D activities. Can you provide us with information on the present situation and activities that the Air Force Command plans to realize in the near future? Are there plans to acquire these types of platforms and systems in the period ahead?
Space assets give significant advantages to their users by unlimited access to any location on Earth. Therefore, many nations give priority to building up space capabilities and accelerating their national space programs. With an aim to enable Turkey to take its place in this area, the Turkish Air Force has conducted space related activities since 2000 with an increasing effort.
Similar to military space applications around the world, the Turkish Armed Forces established an objective to develop space capabilities to support various functional areas such as imaging, communication, and early warning.
To meet the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces; in the short term, a model of direct procurement from other countries together with co-development has been employed, while in the long term national development of high technology space systems is planned within a multifaceted national program. Therefore, space related R&D studies started and a common effort is put to support the works of national defense industry, research institutes and universities.
On the other hand, procurement projects needed by the Turkish Armed Forces, also take into account technology transfer to local defense industries, and related national industries and institutions within the framework of a national industry model.
GÖKTÜRK Project is the most concrete example of these efforts. GÖKTÜRK contract was signed with Telespazio S.p.A of Italy last year on July 16th 2009. Some of the important gains of the GÖKTÜRK Project for our country will be an end to end reconnaissance and surveillance satellite system, a satellite assembly, integration and test center which will be built at TAI.
Considering the limited service life (five to seven years for low earth orbits and twelve to fifteen years for geostationary orbits) of satellites there is a need to develop projects for replacement satellites to sustain the Turkish Armed Forces’ capability in space. This will in turn contribute to the experience and maturation of Turkish space industry. This is a crucial point for Turkey to be a self-sufficient country in developing space related capabilities.
Following this approach, Turkish Armed Forces plans to continue its space program in which GÖKTÜRK Project has been a starting point. This plan foresees new satellite projects defined in different areas and based on national defense industry experience. In this regard, Turkish Armed Forces will be a significant space power in its territory in parallel with the space capabilities acquired by Turkish Air Force in near future.
The importance of UAVs which are rapidly becoming used throughout the world and which has almost become a necessity is known. What are your assessments on the works relating to UAVs?
With the integration of the systems having a longer endurance period and capable of transferring the real-time imagery, the efficiency of the mechanism called Kill Chain has gained great importance and the UAVs started to be used more frequently. The most essential factor in the requirement for UAVs, are their capacity to eliminate the casualties. Although they have not yet substituted entirely for the manned aerial vehicles, they are being widely used in the military environments.
The UAVs, not only with their payloads, but also with the capabilities such as their long time endurance, have broken a new ground in the area of Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance and ensured the efficiency of the ISR missions.
The studies on the procurement of the UAVs have been initiated to meet the Turkish Armed Forces reconnaissance, detection and identification requirements in a cost effective way. For this purpose, national industrial resources as well as the foreign resources for on-hand procurement will be utilized at the maximum level. The studies concerning the procurement of ten (10) operative UAVs, called "Observer-1", and capable of conducting the tasks on 24-hour basis, are ongoing. Six (6) UAVs have been included in the TUR AF inventory in March and are already being used against the separatist terrorist group PKK. The remaining UAVs have been included in the inventory recently.
The UAVs have the capability to conduct their missions in all weather conditions and at the altitude of 30.000 ft. By the SAR sensors mounted on the UAVs, high quality images can be obtained and ASELFLIR 300T, which is nationally produced, contributes to the target designating for Combat Aircraft and Helicopters with the EO/IR Video (Full Motion Video) and LD (Laser Designator).
Furthermore, we are intensely studying on the Observer 2 Project, which will be produced by TAI. Observer 2 will start test flights in 2010. With this project, we aim to have an UAV, which is totally produced with national resources. The studies on the procurement of armed UAVs are ongoing as well. We plan to nationally develop combat UAVs, capable of conducting reconnaissance, attack and SEAD/DEAD missions, which will probably substitute the Combat Aircraft in 2020s in the TUR AF inventory.
Shortly, we can say that TUR AF studies intensely on the issue of employing the UAVs in all phases of Air Operations.
In the competition on new business ideas that took place by ODTU (METU) and SSM, the Air Force Academy came first in the category of UAV and defence with takeoff and landing with the Coanda effect that has been developed. In this context, is an arrangement taking place that will meet the projects developed by the Air Force Academy with the defence industry?
Each year “new ideas and new business” competition is being held by METU-Technocity. The fifth one was held in 2009. These competitions take place in order to encourage university graduate and post graduate students’ research skills and entrepreneurship to innovate business ideas and in order to help implement these ideas into life.
METU and Undersecretariat of Defense Industries officials elected Capt. ?amil TEMEL and Serkan AKGÜL, assigned by the Air Force Academy.
Their project was about the Coanda effect. With this effect, UAV can perform a vertical take off and landing. As the winners in the defense industry category, their projects were elected as the best technological business idea and awarded the best prize out of 300 projects.
At all levels of the education system, the Turkish Air Force attaches great importance to combining theory with practice. Thus, we support our students’ and staff’s participation to the contests with scientific projects. In this context, in 2009 TÜB?TAK Research Project Contest, I??klar Military Air High School won the first place and two second place in the competition. In 2010 with four competing groups, same school won the first place again and two second place and the mention award in the competition.
To combine theory with practice, there is a close relationship between the Air Force Academy and Air Supply And Maintenance Centers.
Lastly, we support HUTEN’s close contact with Turkish Companies such as HAVELSAN, ASELSAN, TAI, TEI etc.
Within the coverage of the JSF, the Air Force Command will realize the purchase of one hundred F-35 new generation combat planes, known as the fifth generation. Will these new generation combat planes be available at the time targeted? Do you think that during this period while these airplanes enter the inventory of the Air Force Command there will be a gap in fighter aircraft. On this subject is there a possibility of new acquisitions?
Turkey is planning to follow the latest aviation technology by integrating the fifth generation aircraft into her operational power. For this, the Turkish Air Force, has begun searching for a New Generation Aircraft to be procured to replace the F-4E, F-4/2020 and some F-16 which have completed/will complete their life cycle. In this context, she has participated in Concept Demonstration, System Demonstration and Development(SDD), and Production Sustainment and Follow-on Developments(PSFD) Phases of JSF Project. The F-35 is a good candidate due to its mission systems, low observability and range.
F-35 Lightning II Program has been developed on experience, technology, and capability of 9 different nations. Program has its own development, production and delivery schedule which slipped to the right a few times due to different reasons. For possible delay in the program, the Turkish Air Force carries out its own risk assessments and develops mitigation plans. Procurement of 30 F-16 Block 50+ aircraft, which have new capabilities, has played an important role in force structure risk mitigation. Based on today’s risk assessment, we do not foresee any fighter gap in our fleet.
Within the coverage of the production of Airborne Early Warning and Control (HEIK) Airplanes, would you provide us with the latest information on the “Peace Eagle” Project?
We pay special attention on Peace Eagle Project to be able to procure the most convenient AWACS System to meet our operational needs because of its contribution to our country’s defense.
The production phase of AWACS aircraft, as one of the most important activity within the program which started on 23 July 2003, began with the first aircraft modification in Seattle Boeing facilities in U.S. in November 2004. The modification activities of the other three aircraft began in TAI facilities in Ankara in March 2006 under Boeing’s responsibility, following the completion of TAI personnel’s training who participated in modification activities in U.S.
The modification of the first aircraft still continues as a parallel activity with Development Tests done by Boeing Company. The necessary modifications based on these activities are performed on other three aircraft by TAI personnel.
It is necessary to complete the software development and subsystem integration activities to be able to finalize the production of the aircraft.
AWACS aircraft is a high technology product consisting of many sophisticated subsystems. It is very difficult to develop, integrate and properly operate such high level complex subsystems. As a matter of fact, Boeing Company has declared a big delay in program schedule due to difficulties encountered mainly during software development activities. At present, we are trying to solve the technical and contractual issues as soon as possible together with SSM and Boeing Company.
What opportunities and capabilities will the A 400M provide to the Air Force Command? Will there be a continuation of new type cargo planes purchases in the near future?
C-160 aircraft’s economic lifespan will be over at 2010’s. Because of this, a new generation transport aircraft need has occurred to meet the TAF’s (Turkish Armed Forces) tactical and logistic air transport operational necessities. Thus, the A400M Aircraft Project has started. The Project is carried out by 6 European countries (Turkey, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Spain, and Belgium). A total number of 180 aircraft will be manufactured through this Project and Turkey will purchase 10 aircraft.
A400M is a high technology transportation aircraft which has the capability of transporting heavy and vast volume materials, high speed and long range, glass cockpit, air to air refueling, advanced self-defence aids, advanced mission planning and maintenance information system, advanced avionics and data links. It will operate under all weather, day/night conditions for missions such as med-evac, humanitarian aid, air drop, peace support, air re-fueling/fueling, landing uprepared runways, deployment of forces.
The Air Supply Maintenance Center Commands also provide an important contribution to the national economy through its expanded capabilities in order to provide uninterrupted logistic support in meeting the requirements of the Air Force Command. Aside from this, it also provides a large support in the areas of maintenance and repair to defence industry companies in certain fields. In the period ahead, what are your plans and programs in developing and expanding cooperation between Air Supply Maintenance Center Commands and defence industry companies?
Following the procurement of the new systems, considerable improvements will occur in the Force Structure of the Turkish Air Force Command in 2010. In order to contribute to the effective adaptation of the Turkish Air Force Command to the new force structure, new measures are taken by the Air Logistics Command and its subordinate units, Air Supply and Maintenance Centers.
There are three Air Supply and Maintenance Centers (ASMC) under the Turkish Air Force Command. The 1st ASMC Command, located in Eski?ehir, carries out the modification, maintenance and repair of jet aircrafts and engines, 2nd ASMC Command, located in Kayseri, carries out the modification, maintenance and repair of KC-135R Tanker, C-130, C-160 ve CN-235 transportation aircrafts, T-41D ve SF-260D training aircrafts and UH-1H ve Cougar helicopters, and 3rd ASMC, located in Ankara, carries out maintenance, repair and calibration of avionic and measurement tools.
The ASMC’s aim is primarily to carry out and improve new systems such as Joint Strike Fighter, A400M Transportation Aircraft, Airborne Warning and Control, Basic Training Aircraft (KT-1T), Unmanned Aerial Vehicle platform and subsystems.
In order to improve the cooperation with civil organizations in defense industry sector;
- The studies on the amendments required on the current law and regulations continue.
- By exhibiting the materials in TAF Joint Material Exhibition, we aim to support domectic production of spare materials.
- The participation in IDEF fairs is ensured and certain capabilities are presented to domestic and international defense industry organizations.
- The information on the materials to be produced in domestic market is published in Air Logistics Command’s official web site.
The essential cooperation activities of ASMC Commands with defense industry organizations in the present and in the future are;
- The projects of F-16 PO-III (Avionic modernization), PO-IV (30 each F-16 production) with TAI,
- The structural and avionic modernization of F-4E/RF4E aircraft by ASELSAN and 1st ASMC Command.
- The cooperation with defense industry organizations with regard to Performance-based Logistic Concept of the weapon systems to be included in the inventory.
- Joint T-38 ve C-130 aircraft modernization with TAI,
- Projects of ammunition improvement with TUB?TAK,
- Depot-level maintenance and repair of TRS22XX radars with HAVELSAN,
- Depot-level maintenance of Plate Mounted Stinger weapon systems with ASELSAN.
Such capabilities contribute to our technological independence and have vital importance for national defence industry.
The Anatolian Eagle 2010/2011 Training Exercises that took place at the Third Main Jet Base Command at Konya with the participation of national components was realized between 19-30 April in this year. Our pilot training system not only meets the training requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces but also the pilot training requirements of friendly and allied countries and shares its capabilities and experience. Which countries will participate in the training exercises in the forthcoming period?
We have planned three periods of AE Trainings this year, and as you have already mentioned, the first and second periods were executed in April and June respectively. The third period will be executed in October. Along with the Turkish Air Force, Italian, Spanish, United Arab Emirates, and US Air Forces were the main participants of the second period training. The third period is still multinational, but with participation of less number of countries. The participants of the third period are not clear yet.
Additionally, as you know, we will have centennial celebrations of the Turkish Air Force in 2011. In this context, the multinational Anatolian Eagle in June 2011 will be one of the major events for us. We want to invite as many countries as possible to this event.
Would you provide us with information on the subject of relations with other nations’ air forces and exercises?
Aside from the Anatolian Eagle Trainings, the Turkish Air Force is involved in many international military training events, not to mention ordinary bilateral high and low level visits. Although most of these activities are with NATO countries, we have relations with Non-NATO countries; like Pakistan and Egypt. Thus, as the Turkish Air Force, besides helping improve the relations with those countries, we also keep the high combat readiness status by continuously sharing knowledge and experience with other Air Forces.
Some of the major events that we are involved this year are;
“Brilliant Ardent”, NATO Exercise – Germany in April,
“Maple Flag”, Canada in May,
“Noble Arrow”, NATO Exercise – Italy in October,
Participation in Air Shows with our famous Turkish Stars team in countries such as; Belgium, France, Netherlands, England and Hungary, and Turkish Republic of North Cyprus.
Lastly, is there a message that you would like to convey to Defence Turkey readers?
Because Turkey is in a geographical position where instability is much concerned, it is of vital importance to have strong Armed Forces in order to secure the country and eliminate the threats against national interests.
Turkey with the strong Armed Forces is a country which greatly contributes to the peace and stability in her region and in the world.
In consequence, the Turkish Air Force keeps working with a great effort to leave a strong Air Force to the next generations. The Turkish Air Force, with the personnel who have internalized the principles Atatürk put forward, will keep being Turkey’s most important
assurance and source of pride in ensuring her integrity and unity and in protecting her air space as well as in assuring stability and peace in the world.
Thank you.
