Turkish F-16s switch to national air-to-air missiles PHOTO/VIDEO

Türkiye has signed a contract for the delivery of GÖKDOĞAN and BOZDOĞAN air-to-air missiles developed by TÜBİTAK-SAGE as part of the GÖKTUĞ PO-III project.

SavunmaSanayiST.com announced this on its Twitter page, Caliber.Az reports.

Yerli Havadan Havaya Füzeler İçin Sipariş Geçildi!

Cumhurbaşkanlığı Savunma Sanayii Başkanlığı (SSB) tarafından, TÜBİTAK SAGE ana yükleniciliğinde yürütülecek olan, GÖKTUĞ F-16 PO-III Entegrasyonu ve Düşük Ölçekli İlk Üretim Tedariki Projesi’nin Sözleşme İmza Töreni… pic.twitter.com/VeWuNE0RCz

— SavunmaSanayiST.com (@SavunmaSanayiST) July 28, 2023

At the 16th International Defence Industry Exhibition IDEF, a signing ceremony was held for the GÖKTUĞ F-16 PO-III contract for the integration and initial production project, which was initiated by the Turkish Defence Industry Authority to meet the needs of the Turkish Air Force and to be carried out by TÜBİTAK SAGE.

Under the GÖKTUĞ development project, the GÖKDOĞAN and BOZDOĞAN missiles, which were designed to be integrated into the PO-I configuration of the F-16 aircraft, are being integrated into the PO-III configuration of the F-16 aircraft, and serial initial production of GÖKTUĞ missiles is planned to meet the air-to-air missile requirements of the Air Force Command.

The project will integrate GÖKDOĞAN and BOZDOĞAN missiles into the PO-III configuration of the F-16 aircraft and will deliver 25 BOZDOĞAN missiles, 25 GÖKDOĞAN missiles and 14 launchers in 2025.

The various difficulties encountered in supplying AIM-9 and AIM-120 missiles from the US and their unit cost are very high. Türkiye, which carries out its air defence with F-16 aircraft using these missiles, has forced it to develop national air-to-air missiles. In this context, TÜBİTAK-SAGE, which started the GÖKTUĞ project in 2013, has taken an important step to end Türkiye's foreign dependence in this field. The GÖKTUĞ project is divided into two parts: the BOZDOĞAN air-to-air missile (WVRAAM) and the GÖKDOĞAN air-to-air missile (BVRAAM).

The Bozdogan medium-range missile is equipped with an active radar homing head and a datalink for radio correction with the carrier aircraft and has a range of up to 65 kilometres. The highly manoeuvrable short-range (close air-to-air) GÖKDOĞAN missile is equipped with a dual-band infrared IIR-type homing head (being developed by the Turkish company Aselsan), a variable thrust vectoring engine and has a range of up to 30 km.