Turkey to buy 117 missiles for F-16

ISTANBUL

Turkey wants to empower its F-16 fleet with a new set of Sidewinder missiles. Courtesy of the Turkish Military

Turkey has agreed to purchase 117 Sidewinder missiles worth $140 million from the United States and to be installed on F-16 aircrafts, according to daily Vatan.

Turkey takes a second critical arms step after obtaining the Patriot missile systems from NATO, by purchasing the 117 AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles from the U.S. The U.S Department of Defense has presented the deal to the U.S. Congress, and pending approval, Turkey will obtain the short-range, heat seeking weapon developed by Raytheon.

These launch-and-leave air combat missiles to be installed on F-16s use passive infrared (IR) energy for acquisition and tracking, which can be employed in areas within and beyond visual range, and are deployable in both offensive and defensive counter-air operations.

Known as “deadly missiles” due to their capability to destroy locked-on targets, the “X” is the latest generation AIM-9 missile that has been used with F-5A and F-104G aircrafts since 1960.