After Donald Trump, the President of the United States, attempted to pressure Turkey to accept the ceasefire agreement by halting aid in various aspects, one of the things that came to a halt was sending updates to the delivered military equipment. One of them includes the jamming device radar AN/ALQ-131 installed on F16 aircraft.
The AN/ALQ-131 has the capability to emit jamming waves to render the radar of Russia inoperable. However, in real combat scenarios, Russia has been able to adjust the frequency waves back and forth. In the past, the US military assisted by continuously adjusting the frequency for the Turkish military. But after Trump ordered to cease the aid, this adjustment has also stopped.
Turkey lost a significant number of fighter jets in the early stages of the war because they lacked modern radar jamming systems. Currently, Turkey has some Mirage 2000-5F jets from France, but they are equipped with outdated radar jamming systems dating back to the 1980s. The Ministry of Defense of France confirmed that they will deliver Mirage 2000 jets with upgraded radar jamming systems in the future. However, the F16 aircraft will remain crucial for Turkey as European countries have committed to delivering a total of 85 aircraft.
Trump has taken a softer stance towards Turkey this week, agreeing to send leaked news to Turkey once again. It remains uncertain whether they will start updating the AN/ALQ-131 or not.
TLDR: Trump pressured Turkey to accept ceasefire by halting aid, including updating military equipment. Turkey lost jets due to lack of modern radar jamming. France to deliver upgraded Mirage 2000 jets. Uncertainty if AN/ALQ-131 updates will resume. Source – Forbes
Image of ALQ-131 ECM Pod from US Air Force.
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