On June 6, according to reports from the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Turkey, the Turkish Ministry of Defense and the U.S. government reached an agreement.
Under this agreement, the U.S. government will sell 40 newly manufactured Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 (F-16V) fighter jets to Turkey under the Foreign Military Sales program, along with an unspecified number of modernization upgrade kits to upgrade the Turkish Air Force's existing F-16 fighters to the F-16V standard.
This marks the end of a long, complex, and challenging negotiation process between Turkey and the United States, representing a significant step forward in U.S.-Turkey defense relations.
For years, Turkey has been seeking to purchase these advanced F-16 Block 70 fighter jets from the United States while also hoping to obtain upgrade kits for its existing fleet of F-16 Block 50 fighters.
However, the negotiations were complicated by various factors, including tensions between Turkey and Greece, Turkey's purchase of the S-400 air defense system from Russia, and opposition from key members of the U.S. Congress.
Additionally, Turkey's earlier exclusion from the F-35 fighter jet program added further difficulty to the negotiations.
A turning point in the negotiations was Finland and Sweden's applications to join NATO, which required unanimous approval from all NATO member countries, including Turkey.
Turkey leveraged its approval of NATO membership to advance the fighter jet procurement deal.
Since the Turkish government and parliament approved Finland and Sweden's NATO membership earlier this year, the U.S. government approved the deal in January.
While the specific contract details have not been disclosed, it can be referenced to a notification issued by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency to the U.S. Congress on January 26.
The notification stated that the plan was to sell Turkey 40 newly manufactured F-16 Block 70 fighter jets, including 32 single-seat F-16C Block 70 and 8 dual-seat F-16D Block 70 aircraft, along with 79 upgrade kits to bring the Turkish Air Force's existing F-16 fighters up to the F-16V standard.
The entire transaction is valued at approximately $23 billion, including weaponry (1,545 various missiles and 2,300 guided bombs), training, and technical support packages, as well as modernization work.
Thus, the epic deal to sell F-16 Block 70 fighter jets to Turkey is officially concluded.
From 1987 to 2012, the Turkish Air Force received a total of 270 F-16C/D fighters of various batches (including 43 Block 30, 117 Block 40, 80 Block 50, and 30 Block 50+), 262 of which were produced domestically in Turkey.
Turkey is one of the five countries with an F-16 production line, assembled by Turkish Aerospace Industries near Ankara in Akıncı.
Since 2012, Turkey has collaborated with Lockheed Martin to upgrade 210 of these fighters (37 Block 30, 101 Block 40, and 72 Block 50) to the Block 50+ level under the "Common Configuration Implementation Program" (CCIP).
Currently, the Turkish Air Force still has 243 F-16C/D fighters in service (157 F-16C and 86 F-16D).
The F-16C/D Block 70/72 is equipped with the new AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) developed by Northrop Grumman.
This advanced Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, derived from the AN/APG-81 developed for the F-35 fighter jet, offers higher situational awareness, flexibility, and faster all-weather targeting capability, with a maximum detection range of 370 kilometers.
This radar can be installed on newly produced F-16s or retrofitted on earlier F-16 batches without structural, power, or cooling modifications.
Additionally, the F-16C/D Block 70/72 features a new high-resolution center pedestal display, a modernized mission computer, and an Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) to provide pilots with critical tactical imagery and information processing to prevent fatal crashes.
The aircraft's lifespan reaches 12,000 hours, with an operational life of at least 40 years, without needing airframe life extensions.
Its modular design facilitates maintenance and reduces lifecycle costs.
To date, Lockheed Martin has received orders for 188 F-16C/D Block 70/72 fighters. Besides Turkey (40 units), orders come from Slovakia (14 units), Bulgaria (16 units), Bahrain (16 units), Jordan (12 units), Morocco (24 units), and Taiwan (66 units).
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