Turkey unveils domestic AESA radar for manned, unmanned combat aircraft

Turkey is to fit a domestically developed AESA radar onto its current Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft and Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle, as well as the future Turkish Fighter Experimental (TF-X)/National Combat Aircraft (MMU). (Turkish Air Force)

Turkey has showcased a new domestically developed active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar system it intends to equip its fleet of manned and unmanned combat aircraft.

The president of Defence Industries, İsmail Demir, revealed the new Aselsan AESA radar on 10 November, saying the system will be retrofitted onto the Turkish Air Force's (TuAF's) Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft and Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), as well as the future Turkish Fighter Experimental (TF-X)/National Combat Aircraft (MMU).

“It is a radar project equivalent to the most advanced radars in the world at the moment,” Demir said at the event.

The F-16 is the mainstay of the TuAF's front-line combat aviation force, with the single-seat C and twin-seat D models having been in near-continuous upgrades since their introduction in the late 1980s. Much of this work has been done by domestic industry. As noted by Janes World Air Forces, the TuAF has 174 F-16C and 58 F-16D aircraft in its inventory. The Akinci is a 4.5-tonne twin-engined UAV, deliveries of which are now beginning. The TF-X/MMU is being developed with UK assistance to be Turkey's next-generation combat aircraft, with the first flight due on 18 March (Turkey's Gallipoli victory day) 2025.