Saturday 24 June 2017

McDonnell Douglas F-4E, Turkish users

The Turkish Air Force received 40 F-4Es in 1974 with a further 32 F-4Es and RF-4Es in 1977 under the Peace Diamond III programme. They were followed by 40 more ex-USAF aircrafts in the Peace Diamond IV programme in 1987.
Another 40 ex-Air National Guard were delivered in 1991 and 32 RF-4E more of them ex-Luftwaffe ones were delivered between 1992 and 1994.
In 1995 an agreement was reached with Israel Aerospace Industries to modernize the Turkish F-4Es which were dubbed as Terminator 2020.
They have been used to strike Kurdish positions in Northern Iraq and they have suffered some losses, for instance, on 22nd June 2012 an RF-4E was shot down by Syrian anti-air when patrolling the Turkish-Syrian border.
After some accidents, where two RF-4Es and a single F-4E were lost, the RF-4E were withdrawn from active service in 2015. Since then, Turkey has used their remaining F-4Es to attack Kurdish and ISIS positions specially in the Northern part of Iraq.










Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-4_Phantom_II#Turkey
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

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