TR F-16 Özgür | Hürkuş - Fighter Trainer Aircraft Projects

[Strong AI]

We are in 2023 and still no closer to having any sight of this infamous radar. I only hope that this radar doesn’t become another Altay story.

MURAD AESA

-We delivered the first version of the AESA radar for AKINCI.

-A radome was designed accordingly.

-Tests were carried out with the radome.

-The next step is to put on an aircraft and fly it.

-We may be sharing new news very soon.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1652314643870744576

 

[Yasar_TR]

@Strong AI
We are awaiting an Aesa radar integrated on our Özgür F16 planes. Not a test model for Akinci.
I remember in 2014, Aselsan and then SSB bragging about having Aesa radars fitting process starting on all our f16s by 2016. Since that day we’ve heard every year “end of this year” or “beginning of next year” being the radar’s readiness.

 

[Strong AI]

@Strong AI
We are awaiting an Aesa radar integrated on our Özgür F16 planes. Not a test model for Akinci.
I remember in 2014, Aselsan and then SSB bragging about having Aesa radars fitting process starting on all our f16s by 2016. Since that day we’ve heard every year “end of this year” or “beginning of next year” being the radar’s readiness.

-The next step is to put on an aircraft and fly it.

What if, SSB took lessons from the (imho) initially disastrous management of the ALTAY project
(big middle finger from Germany, but it did backfire thanks to BMC Power and SK)
and told ASELSAN, to make all critical parts indigenous (if possible)?
Also, maybe some new requirements were put on the table.
It is better to wait and have a mature product, instead of a half baked product, like an initially produced ALTAY MBT
(most of the critical parts were of foreign origin).

 

[Yasar_TR]

What if, SSB took lessons from the (imho) initially disastrous management of the ALTAY project
(big middle finger from Germany, but it did backfire thanks to BMC Power and SK)
and told ASELSAN, to make all critical parts indigenous (if possible).
Also, maybe some new requirements were put on the table.
It is better to wait and have a mature product, instead of a half baked product, like an initially produced ALTAY MBT
(most of the critical parts were of foreign origin).

All of the above are valid points that could well have happened.
But at the end of the day for us mere mortals waiting to see our own radar performing on those planes and not seeing it happen is most frustrating. Especially after being given dates, year after year.

We seem to have too many projects in hand. By company as well as by defence industry.
There are many projects that have been completed but not yet in serial production.
May be streamlining projects to a degree and prioritising them in accordance with their urgency need to be planned.
Kaan, it’s engine, Aesa radar, Hurjet, Milden, I-Class with all it’s ancillaries, Gökhan Ramjet Missile and Typhoon Missile with seeker that can hit moving targets are just some that need to have priority.
This list can be enlarged. But there is a limit on how much resources we can dedicate to how many projects at a given time.

It is counter productive to get involved in too many projects. It is better to concentrate on what we can manage and take it on board projects one at a time.

 

[TheInsider]

It may have all the bells and whistles to do with avionics, flight and targeting computers etc etc.
But without the Murad Aesa radar that plane is a lion with no teeth.
Aselsan has lagged badly behind schedule with the Özgür’s Aesa project. That radar should have been on that plane a few years ago. For a good number of years we have been reading that all our f16s would have the new Aesa radar fitted on them. We are in 2023 and still no closer to having any sight of this infamous radar. I only hope that this radar doesn’t become another Altay story.
We need …. No we must have that radar on that plane like yesterday.

It should have been delivered by the end of 2022 according to the development contract so approx 6 months of delay if delivered this month.

 

[Bürküt]

All of the above are valid points that could well have happened.
But at the end of the day for us mere mortals waiting to see our own radar performing on those planes and not seeing it happen is most frustrating. Especially after being given dates, year after year.

We seem to have too many projects in hand. By company as well as by defence industry.
There are many projects that have been completed but not yet in serial production.
May be streamlining projects to a degree and prioritising them in accordance with their urgency need to be planned.
Kaan, it’s engine, Aesa radar, Hurjet, Milden, I-Class with all it’s ancillaries, Gökhan Ramjet Missile and Typhoon Missile with seeker that can hit moving targets are just some that need to have priority.
This list can be enlarged. But there is a limit on how much resources we can dedicate to how many projects at a given time.

It is counter productive to get involved in too many projects. It is better to concentrate on what we can manage and take it on board projects one at a time.

When the government changes, they also come into order.As the followers of this sector, we want everything to be done, but we have a certain budget and a limit to what we can do.For example, we have an air force that is getting outdated and we plan to solve it with the MMU project.But beside that we say that we will make a version of the Hürkuş that can land in TCG Anadolu , we are talking about making a navalized twin-engine version of the Hürjet.We need air defense capable frigates instead of our obsolete frigates.We need missiles and vertical launching system we can put on top of it.But in the other hand we are talking about TCG Trakya and the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier.Such greed causes critical products not to enter mass production and that causes national security problems.

 

[Yasar_TR]

It should have been delivered by the end of 2022 according to the development contract so approx 6 months of delay if delivered this month.

Let’s not go back to page 152 , post#3022 where there are written documents that this radar was to be installed on planes by 2016 and onwards. This project was in the pipeline around 2011s.
If you move the goalpost to the latest declaration of delivery/integration date, then your 6 months delay will be valid every year.
Here is another piece of news that says it is expected for delivery to first f16 plane as part of Ozgur program in May 2021.

Hava Kuvvetlerinin "ÖZGÜR"lük Projesi | Milli F-16 Modernizasyonu | Turkish Defence Agency

Hava Kuvvetlerimiz kuşkusuz istikbalimizin en önemli teminatlarından bir tanesi ve bu teminatın günümüzde dayandığı temel güç de F-16 savaşan şahinlerimiz. Ancak daha önce bu uçaklarımız üzerinde hiçbir değişiklik yapamıyor ve aldığımız seviyede veya ABD’ye modernize ettirebildiğimiz kadar...

www.tdefenceagency.com

We all know that signing a project takes place a great deal later than when the company starts work on that project. Yes the project was signed finally in end 2018. But this was because assurances were given that the project was mature and were to be ready for delivery in a short while.
At best we are running some 2-3 years behind with this project. And there are no guarantees that it will be ready very shortly if past performance is to be taken as norm.
Yes requests from the airforce may have changed. There were unforeseen circumstances of technical problems like heating/cooling handicaps. Results were not probably up to required expectations. These are common problems a technical company trying to develop may encounter. But the fact remains that we have Özgür planes in hand today, that do not have their indigenous Aesa radars installed.

 

[MADDOG]

F-16 Özgür!

View attachment 57230

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1655970195855364096

Via Cem Doğut

 

[Combat-Master]

Defense Industry President İsmail Demir;
"We have signed the F-16 Ozgur modernization contracts for our F-16 B40 & B50 aircraft."
"In this case, the purchase of the Viper modernization kit from the United States can be cancelled. This is because Ozgur + MURAD (AESA) radar aims for further advancements."

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1656554854272172034

I have a feeling, MURAD AESA radar is currently being tested on 87-0019 - hopefully we'll find out soon

 

[Era_shield]

Let’s not go back to page 152 , post#3022 where there are written documents that this radar was to be installed on planes by 2016 and onwards. This project was in the pipeline around 2011s.
If you move the goalpost to the latest declaration of delivery/integration date, then your 6 months delay will be valid every year.
Here is another piece of news that says it is expected for delivery to first f16 plane as part of Ozgur program in May 2021.

Hava Kuvvetlerinin "ÖZGÜR"lük Projesi | Milli F-16 Modernizasyonu | Turkish Defence Agency

Hava Kuvvetlerimiz kuşkusuz istikbalimizin en önemli teminatlarından bir tanesi ve bu teminatın günümüzde dayandığı temel güç de F-16 savaşan şahinlerimiz. Ancak daha önce bu uçaklarımız üzerinde hiçbir değişiklik yapamıyor ve aldığımız seviyede veya ABD’ye modernize ettirebildiğimiz kadar...

www.tdefenceagency.com

We all know that signing a project takes place a great deal later than when the company starts work on that project. Yes the project was signed finally in end 2018. But this was because assurances were given that the project was mature and were to be ready for delivery in a short while.
At best we are running some 2-3 years behind with this project. And there are no guarantees that it will be ready very shortly if past performance is to be taken as norm.
Yes requests from the airforce may have changed. There were unforeseen circumstances of technical problems like heating/cooling handicaps. Results were not probably up to required expectations. These are common problems a technical company trying to develop may encounter. But the fact remains that we have Özgür planes in hand today, that do not have their indigenous Aesa radars installed.

Probably they deferred development of it when Kaan appeared on the horizon. If so, this is the right decision because otherwise they would have had to redesign it for Kaan.

 

[TheInsider]

Defense Industry President İsmail Demir;
"We have signed the F-16 Ozgur modernization contracts for our F-16 B40 & B50 aircraft."
"In this case, the purchase of the Viper modernization kit from the United States can be cancelled. This is because Ozgur + MURAD (AESA) radar aims for further advancements."

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1656554854272172034

I have a feeling, MURAD AESA radar is currently being tested on 87-0019 - hopefully we'll find out soon

I heard the same thing from one of my friends but it is extremely speculative. I spotted the national AESA IFF system on it (fork-like antennas in front of the cockpit) those antennas usually work hooked up to the radar but one thing is for sure Akıncı version of MURAD is delivered to the Baykar.

 

[demir283]

The ozgur project should also include Unmanned project like US trying to do with their f-16

US Air Force plans self-flying F-16s to test drone wingmen tech

Project Venom aims to load autonomous software in six piloted F-16s for testing. If it works, the technology could be the brains of a future drone fleet.

www.defensenews.com

 

[MADDOG]

Hürkuş CAT-1 pilot Murat Özpala: "Soon, we will start the flight tests where HÜRKUŞ will gain Unpaved Runway Operations Test capability…"

 

[UcanTost]

Hürkuş CAT-1 pilot Murat Özpala: "Soon, we will start the flight tests where HÜRKUŞ will gain Unpaved Runway Operations Test capability…"

View attachment 57352

I need mmu and atak 2 in dcs/flight sim within 5 years yoksa hakkimi helal etmem

 

[Oublious]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1656714627164536852

 

[MADDOG]

F-16 Özgür has been handed over to the Air Force Command.

 

[fushkee]

I think it's declared officially first time that Gezgin and Atmaca would be fired by an air platform. Right?

 

[Cabatli_TR]

First F16 Özgur has been handed over to Air Forces

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1659133061412405251

 

[Combat-Master]

First F16 Özgur has been handed over to Air Forces

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1659133061412405251

Feel like they just threw in Gezgin and Atmaca for the sake of it..

 

[Strong AI]

Feel like they just threw in Gezgin and Atmaca for the sake of it..
View attachment 57499

Why? ATMACA is not much bigger than a HARPOON and the weight difference is not that much great too.
GEZGIN is a different story.