Turkey's Nationalized F-16s
Turkeys rival Greece recently bought 30 F-16 Block 50/52 Plus aircraft, but the Hellenic Air Force passed on the option for an additional 10 F-16s, and delayed consideration of new fightersbeyond 2011. Turkey joined the F-35s production planning phase in 2007, and is moving ahead with its F-16 fleet expansion plans.
Its also looking to nationalize that fleet. Reports in February and October 2011 indicated that Turkey is undertaking internal and external deals to bring almost all aspects of F-16 production, maintenance, and modification within its reach. TAI has re-opened its F-16 finishing line for the Peace Onyx IV buy, and already performs in-depth maintenance and upgrade for the TuAF and other countries.
The biggest step forward in that process would be access to the F-16s software source codes, which is reportedly the subject of an agreement with the USA.Source code access would be more convenient for the Turks, and could be lucrative if some of the F-16 operators who already deal with Turkey for maintenance and modifications choose to purchase locally-designed weapons and modifications. Recent years have seen greater efforts to develop its own equipment, and Turkeys SSM procurement agency has a project called Ozgur, which aims to develop:
...an avionic suit [sic] solution and integrating that suit to a fighter A/C and by execution of integration and certification of a set of defined weapon systems including locally developed weapon systems
. The developed solution will be integrated to a fighter and the certification of the whole system including weapon systems will be performed.
When added to Turkeys existing industrial capabilities, source code access could also serve as a partial form of insurance against damage to their American alliance. It would allow substitutions of local equipment for American-supplied gear as necessary, in a country that can already assemble and maintain the aircraft. That confers a great deal of independence.
It would not be complete insurance, however, because Turkey cannot produce the F-16s engines. After the Tienanmen Square massacre led to a cutoff of American military cooperation, the Chinese found themselves in this boat with their J-10. They engineered a switch from American to Russian propulsion, but their different weights and characteristics affected the aircrafts whole design, and took more than a decade even with complete access to their fighters design and source codes.
Turkey Orders 30 F-16C Block 50s etc. for $2.9B
