page_title: Turkish Air Force
section_title: Aerial refueling tanker aircraft
hierarchical_section_title: Turkish Air Force / Equipment / Aerial refueling tanker aircraft
caption_attribution_description: Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker (code 62-3567) of the Turkish Air Force arrives at the 2016 Royal International Air Tattoo, RAF Fairford, England.
context_page_description: The Turkish Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known today did not come into existence until 1923 with the creation of the Republic of Turkey.
  In 1998, the Turkish Armed Forces announced a program of modernization worth US$160 billion over a twenty-year period in various projects. $45 billion was earmarked to go to the overhaul of the Turkish Air Force, and includes commissioning new combat aircraft and helicopters.
  According to Flight International and the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Turkish Air Force has an active strength of 60,000 military personnel and operates approximately 1,067 manned aircraft. The Turkish Air Force's capacity has been reduced since the purges that followed the 2016 Turkish coup attempt, which saw large-scale dismissals of pilots viewed by Turkey's Islamist government as disloyal.
  The world's first black pilot Ahmet Ali Çelikten and first female fighter pilot Sabiha Gökçen both served in the TAF.
context_section_description: In 1994 the Turkish Air Force signed a deal to lease two and purchase seven Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker aerial refueling tanker aircraft. Following the arrival of all seven purchased aircraft, the two leased KC-135Rs were returned to the United States. All seven KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft of the Turkish Air Force have received the Pacer CRAG (Compass, Radar And GPS) upgrade. The KC-135R-CRAG Stratotanker aerial refueling tanker aircraft of the Turkish Air Force are operated by the 101st Squadron, stationed at the Incirlik Air Base.
caption: Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker (code 62-3567) of the Turkish Air Force arrives at the 2016 Royal International Air Tattoo, England
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D5300", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.00", "Image DateTime": "2016:07:07 14:57:14", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "228", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "15236", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "15860", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10171", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:07:07 14:57:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:07:07 14:57:14", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "70", "EXIF SubSecTime": "20", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "20", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "20", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3967", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2263", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "15204", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "105", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}