F-16 Fighting Falcon News

September 8, 2005 (by pilot71) - The Pentagon late Sept. 6 told Congress of a proposed sale to Turkey of the AGM-154A/C advanced air-to-surface weapons to arm their F-16 fighters.
The U.S. Defense Departments Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified lawmakers of the possible Foreign Military Sale of AGM-154A/C Joint Standoff Weapons, equipment and services to Turkey, according to a DSCA statement.

The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $35 million.

Unless Congress raises objections within 15 days, the sale will go forward automatically. Such objections are rare.

The Government of Turkey has requested a possible sale of:

Major Defense Equipment (MDE):

• 50 AGM-154A-1 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) with BLU-111 and
• 54 AGM-154C JSOW

Non-MDE:

• 4 AGM-154A-1 JSOW Dummy Air Training;
• 3 AGM-154 JSOW Captive Flight Vehicles;
• 3 AGM-154 JSOW Missile Simulation Units.

Also included are containers, software development/integration, test sets and support equipment, system integration and testing, simulation units, spare and repair parts, training devices, publications and technical data, maintenance, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government (USG) and contractor representatives, contractor engineering and technical support services, and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated cost is $35 million.

Congress was also notified on 7 October 2004 about the possible upgrades of 218 Turkish F-16 aircraft. This proposed sale included modifying 104 F-16 block 40, 76 F-16 block 50 and 38 F-16 block 30 aircraft; integration and testing for several major defense items; and logistics support for an estimated value of $3.888 billion.

This proposed sale is in conjunction with that planned modernization. Turkey will use the JSOW as a standoff weapon, which will enhance the capabilities for mutual defense, regional security, and modernization.

About the JSOW
The JSOW is a new generation of glide weapons. It enabes precision air strike launches from well beyond most enemy air defenses, at kinematic standoff ranges up to 130km (70 nm).

The family of JSOW weapons is modular in design with variants that integrate different lethal submunitions, as well as a blast/fragmentation unitary warhead and a hardened target penetrator that can be programmed for blast and fragmentation effects.

The JSOW AGM-154A-1 unitary variant incorporates the insensitive 500 lb BLU-111 (MK-82). The AGM-154C BROACH (blast/fragmentation and/or penetrating) variant incorporates an uncooled Imaging Infrared (IIR) autonomous terminal seeker and tracker, and integrates the BROACH dual-stage blast/fragmentation and/or penetrator warhead.

Both variants are guided to the target area by a highly integrated Global Positioning System and Inertial Measurement System (GPS/IMS). JSOW receives the targeting information in pre-planned mode, in the cockpit with data received while airborne through onboard sensors, or through other third party targeting assets.

The AGM-154A-1 (BLU-111) is under development by Raytheon and will be ready for production in FY2006.

The AGM-154C (BROACH) has demonstrated precision accuracy of approximately one meter in developmental and operational tests. The weapon is in full rate production and achieved IOC in February 2005.