Tag: F16

F-16, F-22, F-35, and Eurofighter Typhoon?

What are the main differences between the F-16, F-22, F-35, and Eurofighter Typhoon?

F-16 : the lightest of the bunch. Single engine multi-role fighter in several generations of upgrades. Nearly 5,000 built. Single air intake underneath the fuselage and one vertical stabilizer along with the main wings and horizontal stabilizers. It probably has the smallest combat radius while having a maximum ordnance load of 17,000 lb. It’s likely the slowest of the 4 as well. Avionics vary by generation but some are getting very advanced upgrades for a light fighter design. A new one will cost you at least $30 million.

EF-2000 : Second smallest of the bunch and there have been over 500 built. Twin engine multi-role fighter with dual intakes under the fuselage and a delta wing configuration with forward canards and 1 vertical stabilizer. It can reach Mach 2 and supercruise. It is getting an AESA radar upgrade to keep its avionics up to par with others. It has some low-observable considerations in its design but is limited. Its combat radius is a little bit better than the F-16 depending on the ordnance load of which it can carry 19,800 lb total. A new one will cost you around $119 million.

F-35: 2nd largest of the group. Single engine multi-role fighter with air intakes on the sides with conventional wings, horizontal stabilizers and two angled vertical stabilizers. It uses extensive computer modeling for low RCS and also has the most recent RAM (but economic) technology so far. It has an extensive ECM suite, situational awareness system and AESA radar with extensive abilities. It can act as a “mini AWACS” and helps to manage and coordinate the battlefield. It carries a limited strike and air-to-air mix of ordinance internally (about 5,700 lb) and can also carry 15,000 lb of ordnance externally. Its combat radius depending on the variant is as good or better than the previous two with just internal fuel and although not a design requirement it can supercruise in sprints of up to 150 miles. A new A variant will cost you under $90 million, B (VTOL) variant around $115 million and the C (naval) variant around $107 million. There have been over 350 made with plans for close to 3,000 across several countries with the US ordering over 1,000.

F-22: the largest and most expensive of the group. A twin engine fighter with wings similar to the F-35’s, it is primarily an air dominance fighter with some secondary strike capabilities. It was was designed with an all-aspect attention to RCS reduction and is the hardest to spot on radar or IR of the bunch. It also is utilized as an intelligence platform analyzing and collecting/intercepting signals. Its AESA radar received an upgrade with the abilities of the newer F-35’s radar. This gave it the improved abilities with the ground strike function added as well as upgrades to include battlefield situational awareness management. Its ECM hardware allows it to recognize, triangulate and guide air-to-air missiles without ever turning on its radar. It was the first to achieve supercruise and flies over mach 2. It can do sprints of at least 100 miles in supercruise. It’s intercept range varies on the use of supercruise but can be the furthest of all the jets on internal fuel. It can carry a full air-to-air load of 8 missiles internally or carry 20,000 lb of external ordnance. A new one would have cost about $150 million but the US won’t sell them to anyone. Only 180+ were made and there are no plans for more.

December 15, 2022
Turkey Scrambles Jets After Detecting Russian Spy Plane

Russian Plane ‘Flew in International Airspace Parallel to Turkey’s Shores’

By JOE PARKINSON CONNECT

ISTANBUL—Turkey’s military said Tuesday that it had on Monday scrambled eight F16 jets along its Black Sea coast after detecting a Russian spy plane flying parallel to Turkish airspace.

According to a statement on the website of Turkey’s General Staff, which presides over the country’s armed forces, the jets were scrambled on Monday after a Russian IL-20 spy plane was spotted in international waters close to Turkish territory. “Eight F16 jets have been scrambled for control and prevention as an IL-20 spy plane belonging to the Russian Federation has flown in international airspace parallel to our shores,” the statement said.

Reports of the move come amid heightened tension in the Black Sea region after Russian troops entered the restive Ukrainian region of Crimea. The statement was published shortly after President Vladimir Putin said Moscow reserves the right to use force in Ukraine to protect Russian-speaking minorities in the country.

Defense analysts have been watching for additional military buildup in the Black Sea area, which is bordered by six countries including Turkey, Ukraine and Russia. Turkey regularly scrambles jets along its borders and in October alone did so three times after detecting Russian planes in Turkish airspace, according to Fazil Esad Altay, an analyst at the 21st Century Turkey Institute, an Ankara-based think tank.

Two Russian landing ships crossed into the Black Sea through Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait at 0530 GMT on Tuesday morning, returning from duty in the Mediterranean where they had been posted due to Syria’s civil war, Turkey’s state news agency said.

via Turkey Scrambles Jets After Detecting Russian Spy Plane – WSJ.com.

March 6, 2014
Turkey to replace F-16s with local jets

Turkey eyes replacing F-16s with locally produced fighter jets by 2023, Turkey’s defense undersecretary said yesterday.

Turkish arms manufacturer TAI has signed a technical assistance deal with Swedish Saab on technical assistance to build a fighter jet that will replace the F-16s.

“We’re working on the conceptual design of a new fighter jet that will replace our F-16 fighters,” Defense Industry Undersecretary Murad Bayar said yesterday on the sidelines of the two-day International Air&Space Power (ICAP) Conference being held in Istanbul.

Recently, Turkish arms manufacturer TAI has signed a technical assistance deal with Swedish Saab on technical assistance to build a fighter jet, as Daily News reported.

Turkish officials have been in talks with Saab (and with Korean Aerospace Industries) to find the best modality for the ambitious project of building its own fighter since 2010 and 2011. In August 2011, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, signed a deal with TAI to carry out the conceptual design work for fighter and jet trainer aircraft Turkey hopes to build.

In recent months a Turkish delegation, including SSM officials, visited Saab headquarters and production facilities in Sweden. And more recently, TAI and Saab penned a preliminary agreement for technical assistance which will pave the way for a subsequent support deal.

In yesterday’s statements, Bayar said the project of designing a local fighter began last year and after some trials one of the designs has matured.

After completing the design phase, the undersecretary will make an offer on developing a fighter to the Defense Industry Executive Committee, the highest defense procurement body of Turkey, which includes Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz, Chief of the Turkish General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel, as well as Bayar himself.

Recalling that Turkey had been one of the partners in the multinational Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) consortium that builds F-35 fighters, Bayar said the roles of the new model to be developed and the F-35 would be different. Therefore, new fighters will be configured as air-to-air planes and they will complement each other with F-35s.

Defense sources had told to Daily News that the program was exposed to the risk of a prolonged conceptual design and this would make the whole project “not very meaningful.”

ANKA to be developed

Meanwhile, asked about how Turkey’s recently launched Göktürk-2 satellite would serve the Turkish Armed Forces, Bayar said the satellite would provide intelligence to Turkey by taking photos of certain regions, which will be used in the operational plans of the army. The first visuals have already arrived, he said.

In addition, he said Turkey also had ambitious plans to develop and upgrade its unmanned aircraft, ANKA.

“The new ANKA will be 4 tons, [the current model is 1.5 tons] and its carrying power, capabilities and sensors will be developed accordingly,” Bayar said, stressing that this would be one of the most important projects of the upcoming period.

via SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY – Turkey to replace F-16s with local jets.

April 6, 2013
Pak-Turkey air exercise concludes

* Five Turkish F16s, combat pilots participated in the exercise

ISLAMABAD: The international air exercise Indus Viper-II between the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Turkish Air Force (TuAF) concluded at an operational air base of the PAF on Sunday.

TuAF Chief of Operations Maj Gen Ares Mehmat was the chief guest at the culmination ceremony. PAF Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (Operations) Air Marshal Waseemud Din and Turkish Ambassador M Babur Hizlan were also present at the occasion. The Turkish Air Force contingent comprising five F16s C&D (Fighting Falcons), combat pilots and ground technical crew participated in the air exercise, conducted from March 4 to16.

The Pakistan Air Force emphasises on the combat training of its air and ground crew and regularly undertakes air exercises with allied air forces. These exercises not only play a vital role in honing the combat skills of PAF aircrew but also enable them to learn the latest air power employment strategies in complex theatres of warfare.

The prime objective of the exercise was to excel in the air combat capability with focus on air power employment in any future conflict. The Pakistan Air Force conducts such exercises on regular intervals both inland and abroad. Air Exercise Indus Viper II provided an opportunity to combat crew of both the air forces to acquaint themselves with applied tactics of air power in near real scenario.

Pakistan Air Force has been participating in a number of international air exercises with some of the best air forces of the world, including the United States Air Force (USAF), Italian Air Force, Turkish Air Force and air forces of other allied countries. Exercise Anatolian Eagle is conducted on alternate year. Similarly, exercises Red Flag and Green Flag are conducted between the PAF and USAF on alternate years. Last year the PAF conducted the operational exercise Shaheen-I with PLA Air Force.

The brotherly countries Pakistan and Turkey have a long history of military cooperation. To enhance mutual understanding between the two air forces, the PAF and TuAF have been successfully conducting joint exercises for many decades. Exercise Indus Viper-II was also planned in the same backdrop and is the second air exercise in this category. agencies

via Daily Times – Leading News Resource of Pakistan – Pak-Turkey air exercise concludes.

March 18, 2013
Turkey ready to produce first national fighter jet

The Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSİK) has taken the first step towards producing Turkey’s first national fighter jet by launching feasibility studies.

According to a Defense Ministry source that remained anonymous, the SSİK had met with Chief of General Staff Gen. Işık Koşaner and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in December 2010 when they took the decision to produce the Turkish fighter jet and to complete it by 2023, the centennial of the Turkish Republic, and had started feasibility studies for the fighter jet. The source stated that this study includes how much the fighter jet will cost, which mechanical and electronic systems will be used, and the opportunities and threats on the market.

The Turkish Air Forces (THK) currently has McDonnell Douglas F-4s and F-16 Fighting Falcons in its jet fighter inventory. However, these planes will be changed to F-35 from the American aviation company Lockheed Martin in the next couple of years. Since fighter jets require high-technology software to be operated, companies are not willing to share the codes of these planes, making the owner of these fighters jets dependant on the company. Turkey, however, wants to decrease its dependency on high-tech foreign defense industries by producing its own products such as its own fighter jet.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s first observation satellite RASAT was sent to Russia on Wednesday for its launch into space. It is expected that RASAT, designed and manufactured in Turkey by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) and supported by the State Planning Organization (DPT), is expected to be launched in July from a space station in Russia. Satellite photos from the Turkish observation satellite will be used in city planning, forestry, agriculture and disaster management.

June 16, 2011
Turkey to design, produce its own fighter jet

“The decision we have taken now calls for the production of a totally national and original aircraft,” Gonul told reporters last week after a meeting of the powerful Defense Industry Executive Committee decided to nix plans to purchase 60 of the latest Typhoon jet fighters. “This move by the committee effectively is a decision for making Turkey’s first fighter aircraft,” Gonul said. “The Eurofighter is off Turkey’s agenda.”

According to reports, the new aircraft would replace the aging US-made F-4, which had been upgraded by Israel to last well into the next decade, as well as newer F-16s. The expected roll out date for Turkey’s twin-engine combat jet would reportedly be about 2023.

Ankara has already announced it plans to procure some 100 of the next-generation F-35s Joint Strike Fighter aircraft in a deal worth about $15 billion. The first JSF jets are expected to be delivered around 2015. According to Defense News, however, Turkey would take the approximately 30 F-16 fighters only as a “stopgap” measure.

The decision to fly solo in developing a fighter jet comes as Turkey distances itself from its North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners in Europe and North America, and seeks closer ties with its Middle Eastern neighbors. In November, Turkey disputed NATO plans for a missile shield against a possible Iranian attack and has objected to the alliance sharing information with Israel.

Turkey assembles the F-16s on contract from Lockheed Martin at a Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) plant. The government named state-controlled TAI, based on the outskirts of Ankara, as the general coordinator of the new fighter jet project. The Turkish Defense Industry’s Procurement agency SSM has allotted some $20 million for a two-year conceptual design study.

“It’s a large endeavor. I’m skeptical that they would be able to do the project on their own since Turkey didn’t have the adequate technological know-how,” said one aerospace executive intimately involved with the design and production of the Israeli fighter jet Lavi in the 1980s.

“But it’s not just technological know-how. Developing a fighter jet requires billions and billions of dollars. It’s certainly not the same as assembling an aircraft. It takes a very long time to develop the technology and then you need to have the influx of funding to bring it all together,” the executive, who spoke on condition he not be named, told The Media Line.

Turkish industry officials told The Media Line that the government decision didn’t make sense. Turkey was currently so heavily engaged in joint international aircraft design projects such as the F-35 that it wouldn’t be feasible to embark on such a costly and risky venture, the officials said.

While hardly world class, the Turkish defense industry is growing and modernizing. But it remains dependent on foreign technology. TAI has designed the Hurkus, a basic training aircraft, but it has yet to make its maiden flight. It has also rolled out an unmanned aerial vehicle this year called the ANKA.

“Development is very, very expensive. Israel was a small country without a big defense budget. Even when we had the infrastructure we decided to give up on it because it was just too expensive,” the executive said, adding that any development today would likely be more successful with international partners.

Israel eventually scrapped the Lavi — built to be a competitor with the F-16 –under heavy US pressure and from a lack of funds.

Defense Minister Gonul said Turkey might cooperate with South Korea, which was developing the KF-X fighter jet with Indonesia. However, that project has sputtered due to lack of funding.

Arabnews

December 20, 2010