Last Aircraft of the F-16 Modernization Programme at Home
Last of the aircrafts that were modernized within the scope of the F-16 Modernization Programme (PO-III) have been delivered to the Turkish Air Forces at a ceremony held at TAI’s facilities. Commander of the Turkish Air Forces General Akın Öztürk, Undersecretary for Defence Industries Prof. İsmail Demir, representatives of the National Defence Ministry and Undersecretariat for Defence Industries, high level commanders of the Turkish General Staff and Air Forces Command, TAI Chairman of the Board Mr. Nejat Bilgin, TAI President and CEO Mr. Muharrem Dörtkaşlı and other representatives of the defence industry companies attended the ceremony.
At the delivery ceremony of the final aircraft, Mr.Nejat Bilgin - TAI’s new Chairman of the Board took the floor. In his speech, Mr. Bilgin expressed their contentment about the delivery of the modernized 163rd and last F-16 aircraft that would increase the operational capability of the Air Forces Command and added, “Within the scope of this programme, we accomplished the modernization of 163 F-16 Block 40 and Block 50 aircrafts. A period of five years has passed since the signature of the agreement on the programme. With the devoted efforts of the officials of TAI, Air Forces Command and Undersecretariat for Defence Industries, the programme was resulted fruitfully in a timely manner. This programme sets an example in an international scale with its heavy schedule, the high quantity of simultaneously modernized aircrafts and active modernization period. I would like to express my gratitude to those who contributed to this Project”.
Mentioning that the F-16 aircraft production paved the way to the establishment of TAI in 1984, Executive Vice President and Head of Aircraft Group of TAI, Mr. Özcan Ertem stated that until now a total of 308 F-16 aircrafts have been manufactured and delivered through the PO-I, PO-II, Egypt and PO-IV programmes. Mr.Ertem added that TAI was the second greatest F-16 manufacturer in the world following Lockheed Martin. Mr. Ertem remarked that the modifications of the Falcon-Up (134 aircrafts), ECM (148 aircrafts) and PO-III TVI (10 aircrafts) for the Air Forces were accomplished in the following years and said that TAI won Jordan (12 aircrafts) and Pakistan (41 aircrafts) F-16 modernization tenders as the Main contractor and within the international competition framework since 2005 and completed the projects successfully in line with the schedule.
Mr. Ertem stated that the PO-III Programme in which the avionic renovation of 163 F-16 (95 Block and 68 Block 50) of the Turkish Air Forces is realized was the greatest and most comprehensive F-16 modernization programme of TAI and continued: “The production of the aircrafts was accomplished at TAI and 1st Air Supply Maintenance Centre according to the triple protocol made with the Turkish Air Forces Command as the contracting authority and Undersecretariat for Defence Industries as the procurement authority and in line with the modernization programme model”.
Özcan Ertem: “As part of the programme, we delivered 5 aircrafts each month”
Mr. Ertem said that the delivery of the first 5 aircrafts took place in November 2011 and added that the PO-III Serial Programme was planned and implemented according to the “Radar modification” programme schedule and thus 5 aircrafts were modernized and 5 were delivered per month. Mr.Ertem continued, “A 9-month process composed of acceptance inspection, disassembly, modification, and ground and flight tests was planned for each aircraft. Moreover, 16 aircrafts, for the capacity acquisition of 1st Air Supply Maintenance Command / workload balancing purposes of TAI, were modernized in Eskişehir”. Mr. Ertem mentioned that as part of the programme, as TAI, they were modernizing more aircrafts than the number of aircrafts remaining at many F-16 user countries’ inventories. Mr. Ertem underscored that at the peak of the programme they accommodated 73 aircrafts at their facilities and the number of F-16 technicians reached at 480 throughout this period.
A total of 382 Sorties were performed in 340 hours during the flight tests
Mr. Ertem mentioned that the modernized aircrafts, as part of the programme, were operated smoothly by the TAI test pilots and then by the Air Forces Command acceptance pilots without a single malfunctioning and added, “While TAI test pilots accomplish 224 sorties with 95 F-16 Block-40 aircrafts within 196 hours, Air Forces Command’s acceptance pilots realized 98 sorties within 78 hours. With regard to the 68 Block-50 aircrafts, TAI Test Pilots achieved a total of 158 sorties in 144 flight hours where acceptance pilots of the Air Forces Command made 68 sorties in 50 hours”.
Undersecretary for Defence Industries Prof. İsmail Demir stated that throughout the programme, they have accomplished the modernization of 163 F-16 aircrafts within Air Forces Command’s inventory and that now Turkish Air Forces has a modern fleet of F-16 aircrafts in common configuration. Prof. Demir expressed that the F-16 aircraft reached a very different combatant force with the help of the modernization and continued, “We have a dream. We wish to hold the roll-out ceremony of our Indigenous Fighter Jet one day. This is a great dream yet, we are not merely day dreamers. Without doubt, the dreams require great efforts. We trust our engineers, our executives, our Air Forces Command, our nation. We have the will to realize this dream”.
Turkish Armed Forces determined to fly with “Hürkuş”
Commander of the Turkish Air Forces General Akın Öztürk expressed that the Project added extra strength to their existing capacity and added, “This modernization that carries F-16 aircrafts, which are the backbone of our Air Forces Command, to the point of highest technology demonstrates the level of our Air Forces Command and fills us with pride”.
General Öztürk underlined the fact that the most important crises that emerged in the recent years arisen in countries near Turkey and added that Turkish Armed Forces and Turkish Air Forces needed to remain prepared for combat. Commander of the Air Forces expressed that the Aerospace and Air Forces were generally the only type of forces employed in crises and conflict environments and remarked that in this respect, Turkish Air Forces Command will be continuing to use the cutting-edge technology both in air and aerospace studies. General Akın Öztürk mentioned that the KT-1T, A400M, AWAC&S aircrafts entered into the inventory of the Turkish Air Forces Command and that the Command was preparing itself for 2020s. General Öztürk remarked that within such framework, the aim of the Air Forces Command is to acquire the capacities for F-35 Joint Strike Fighters that will be performing in Turkey in 2020s and T-FX aircrafts that are foreseen to be included in the inventory in 2030s and gave important messages concerning the Turkish New Generation Basic Trainer aircraft “Hürkuş”. Öztürk said, “I would like to give an important message here. There are some speculations over this subject in Turkey. We should absolutely ignore them. Turkish Air Forces aim to employ Hürkuş aircrafts and that is the only fact that everyone needs to know”.
Air Forces Command General Akın Öztürk made a statement to the press during the cocktail in the hangar from where the farewell to the aircraft took place and mentioned that the Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu approved the Project on the structural modernization of the F-16 Block 30 aircrafts. Adding that they were hoping the delivery of “Hürkuş” would take place after 12 months, General Öztürk underlined that they supported every national object. Following the speeches, the 163rd and final aircraft within the scope of the Project left the facilities, destined to the Air Forces Command.
With the delivery of the final aircraft, 163 F-16 aircrafts with modern capabilities such as improved radars, friend-or-foe identification system, electronic warfare auto-protection system, modular task computer, the Turkish Air Forces Command will be able to conduct air defence and fighter bombing functions under all weather conditions, night and day. Besides, the aircrafts are now capable of utilizing the new weapon systems. Among these new ammunition, Penguin guided missiles used against naval targets and air-to-air systems such as AIM-9X are available.
