Technology Changing The Face Of Turkey's Air Force

Turkey is one of the partner nations on the Airbus A400M program, and Turkish Aerospace Industries produces large parts of the fuselage. The Turkish air force plans to purchase 10 A400Ms to start replacing its older Lockheed C-130 Hercules and Transall C-160s.

Turkey is one of the largest operators of the Airbus Military CN235 twin-engine turboprop transport, with 59 in service. The air force uses the type for intelligence-gathering as well as transport. The country’s navy and coast guard use it for maritime patrol.

Turkey is one of the few remaining operators of the McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom, with about 50 left in service alongside the F-16. The last remaining RF-4 “Photo” Phantoms were retired in March following the loss of two aircraft.

Turkey’s Phantoms were upgraded by Israel Aerospace Industries in 1995, giving them the capability to carry a wide range of precision-guided weapons and munitions, including the huge AGM-142 Have Nap or Popeye missile pictured here, or the Turkish indigenous Roketsan Stand-Off Missile (SOM).

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is the backbone of the Turkish air force, with more than 250 aircraft built in country by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI). This example was painted for the May 2015 NATO Tiger Meet hosted by Turkish unit 192 Filo at Konya air base.

This Block 50 F-16D with conformal fuel tanks is one of 30 ordered under the Peace Onyx IV deal with the U.S. delivered as a stopgap before the arrival of the F-35 at the end of the decade. The Block 50s give the air arm a true air defense suppression capability.

The bulk of Turkey’s F-16 fleet are Block 30 and Block 40 aircraft operating from seven bases around the country. This one was participating in the Anatolian Eagle exercise at Konya in 2014.

Turkey once had a large fleet of Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighters, used mainly for lead-in fighter training (LIFT), but the type was removed from service in 2013, with the LIFT role taken over by the upgraded Northrop T-38M Talon. A handful of F-5s are still used by the country’s Turkish Stars aerobatic display team.

Turkey's four Boeing E-7T Peace Eagle airborne early warning and control aircraft, based on the Boeing 737-700 now in service, support training missions from their base at Konya alongside the forward operating base for NATO’s Boeing E-3 Sentry force.

Turkey took delivery of 20 Transalls in the 1970s and still uses a number of them today. This one is marked in the colors of the Turkish Stars display team, for which it acts as a support aircraft at shows around the country and Europe. But Turkey is examining other uses for the type, including intelligence-gathering.