Turkey has begun using tablet computers in the cockpits of its F-16 fighters to help with the rapid integration of new locally-developed weapons. This has interesting parallels with Ukraine’s use of such devices to allow its Soviet-era jets to employ Western air-to-ground weapons — something you can read more about here.
The tablet can be seen in the cockpit of an F-16 in a recent video showing a test launch of the domestically developed SOM-J standoff missile. The tablet is mounted on the Input Control Panel (ICP), which is located on the center console beneath the head-up display. The ICP is used to select weapons, navigation settings, and radio communications, among other functions. At the same time, the pilot has another tablet on their knee, something that has become increasingly common, augmenting the information available via the aircraft’s mission systems and helping eliminate cumbersome paper books in the cockpit.
In this context, the tablet is part of the UBAS, also known in English as the Aircraft Independent Firing System. Using Turkish-designed software, the UBAS provides a weapons interface for the use of Turkish-made stores, like the SOM-J.
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Tablet-based workarounds to integrate new weapons on existing aircraft platforms are now something of a growth area.
In the case of Ukraine, which we have explored in depth in the past, its Soviet-era fighters lack the kinds of data bus interfaces that would ensure seamless compatibility with Western-made weapons.
Cockpit of a Ukrainian Su-27 Flanker fitted with a tablet device. via X
Last year, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Dr. William LaPlante explained:
“There’s also a series of … we call it ‘air-to-ground,’ it’s what we call it euphemistically … think about the aircraft that the Ukrainians have, and not even the F-16, but they have a lot of the Russian and Soviet-era aircraft. Working with the Ukrainians, we’ve been able to take many Western weapons and get them to work on their aircraft, where it’s basically controlled by an iPad by the pilot. And they’re flying it in conflict like a week after we get it to him.”
As well as tablets in the cockpit, Ukrainian aircraft are also using specialized pylons on which the Western-made weapons are carried. You can read more about those here.
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For Turkey, the situation is essentially reversed, with the problem being how to integrate new Turkish-made weapons onto older U.S.-made F-16s.
Turkey has a fairly unusual position regarding the kind of upgrades it can make to its F-16 fleet, a result of the sometimes-strained relations between Ankara and Washington.
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Now, thanks to UBAS, these aircraft can also carry a range of Turkish-made ordnance and this can be added without having to modify the F-16’s software, which features proprietary updates released in the form of ‘tapes.’ Even without access to the software, Turkey can add new weapons to the jets using UBAS.
While the system has been shown to be used for employment of the SOM-J, it likely provides a similar interface with other locally developed stores.
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As well as appearing in the cockpits of Turkish F-16s, UBAS has been installed in Soviet-era Su-25 Frogfoot attack jets operated by Azerbaijan, as part of a Turkish upgrade.
In the first part of this upgrade, known as Merhale-1, the Su-25 adds the UBAS system that allows it to employ Turkish-made KGK-82/83 and TEBER-82 precision-guided bombs, as well as SOM-B1 standoff missiles.
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The Azerbaijan example underscores the unique position Turkey has, thanks to its rapidly exploding defense aerospace sector, especially in terms of munitions and drones — this was not nearly the case in the past. Were UBAS to open up a gateway for integration of multiple weapons on U.S.-made fighters, this would be a huge deal on multiple levels. For export, especially, it could be very significant, allowing foreign operators a quick and rapid way of integrating Turkish weapons, for example, on their U.S.-made aircraft.
