Procurement: Turks Upgrade and Expand F-16 Force

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August 2, 2007: Turkey has gone ahead and completed negotiations to obtain 30 F-16 Block 50 fighters. Turkey is also upgrading its older F-16s to something similar to the Block 50 standard. The new fighters will arrive by 2009. The new F-16s will cost about $60 million each, including support, training and some spare parts. In a few years, Turkey will have a force of some 200 of the most modern F-16s in service. Turkey considered holding off on some of these upgrades, because the F-35 would be arriving soon. But not soon enough, and it was determined that an up-to-date F-16 force now was a wiser way to go.