Turkey is to fit a domestically developed AESA radar onto its current Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft and Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle, as well as the future Turkish Fighter Experimental (TF-X)/National Combat Aircraft (MMU). (Turkish Air Force)
Turkey has showcased a new domestically developed active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar system it intends to equip its fleet of manned and unmanned combat aircraft.
The president of Defence Industries, Ä°smail Demir, revealed the new Aselsan AESA radar on 10 November, saying the system will be retrofitted onto the Turkish Air Force's (TuAF's) Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft and Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), as well as the future Turkish Fighter Experimental (TF-X)/National Combat Aircraft (MMU).
“It is a radar project equivalent to the most advanced radars in the world at the moment,” Demir said at the event.
The F-16 is the mainstay of the TuAF's front-line combat aviation force, with the single-seat C and twin-seat D models having been in near-continuous upgrades since their introduction in the late 1980s. Much of this work has been done by domestic industry. As noted by Janes World Air Forces, the TuAF has 174 F-16C and 58 F-16D aircraft in its inventory. The Akinci is a 4.5-tonne twin-engined UAV, deliveries of which are now beginning. The TF-X/MMU is being developed with UK assistance to be Turkey's next-generation combat aircraft, with the first flight due on 18 March (Turkey's Gallipoli victory day) 2025.
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