Current status
ÖZGÜR is Türkiye’s national F-16 avionics and mission-system modernisation effort, designed to increase sovereign control over the configuration, software, sensors and weapons of Turkish F-16 aircraft. The programme has evolved from the initial Block 30 modernisation effort into the wider ÖZGÜR-2 framework covering structural and avionics work across Block 30, Block 40 and Block 50 aircraft.
In an announcement published on 30 July 2023, SSB stated that the F-16 Block 30 ÖZGÜR-2 and Block 40/50 ÖZGÜR-2 contracts were being implemented with Turkish Aerospace as prime contractor. SSB said the plan was to apply structural improvement and ÖZGÜR modernisation to all Block 30 aircraft in the relevant inventory while expanding structural and avionics modernisation activity across Block 30/40/50.
The programme has since progressed beyond the mission-computer stage into sensor, weapon and mission-planning integration. ASELSAN reported that MURAD 100-A AESA radar integration on an F-16 ÖZGÜR aircraft had been completed and flight-tested. In its 2025 reporting, ASELSAN stated that a MURAD-equipped ÖZGÜR aircraft fired a GÖKDOĞAN missile and successfully hit the target.
TÜBİTAK’s 2025 activity reporting likewise records a GÖKDOĞAN firing from an ÖZGÜR F-16 using AESA radar datalink guidance and records integration/certification work for HGK-84 on the F-16 Block 30C/D ÖZGÜR configuration. On 16 June 2026, SSB reported acceptance of the national mission-planning software developed by HAVELSAN under the ÖZGÜR programme.
Why it matters
ÖZGÜR is strategically more important than a conventional mid-life upgrade because it changes who controls the aircraft’s mission-system evolution.
A sovereign mission computer, national software architecture, AESA radar and indigenous weapons provide Türkiye with greater freedom to add sensors and munitions without relying on the original foreign integration chain for every modification. This is especially relevant as the F-16 fleet is expected to remain a major combat-air component during the transition toward KAAN.
ÖZGÜR also acts as an integration bridge. Technologies being matured on upgraded F-16s—AESA radar, national air-to-air missiles, mission planning, electronic warfare and weapons interfaces—have direct relevance to KAAN and Turkish uncrewed combat-air programmes.