On 22 June 2012, a Turkish McDonnell Douglas RF-4E Phantom II reconnaissance jet was intercepted and shot down by the Syrian Army in international airspace, after having violated Syrian airspace. The jet's pilots were killed; both Turkish and Syrian forces searched for them before recovering their bodies in early July. The incident was part of a series of incidents between Turkey and Syria since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War and greatly escalated the tensions between the two countries.



The Turkish Air Force (Turkish: Türk Hava Kuvvetleri) 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. It is considered to be the third largest airforce in NATO.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 (consisting of TAI TFX and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II) and helicopters (consisting of heavy lift, attack, medium lift and light general purpose helicopters).

According to Flight International (Flightglobal.com) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Turkish Air Force has an active strength of 50,000 military personnel and operates approximately 1,248 manned aircraft (2020).

The world's first black pilot Ahmet Ali Çelikten and first female fighter pilot Sabiha Gökçen both served in the TAF.