ESKISEHIR
The Turkish Air Force on Wednesday announced it would stop using RF-4E warplanes as of Thursday, Air Force Combatant Commander Abidin Unal said.
"Air forces will halt flights of RF-4E planes F-16 fighter jets can serve via war exploration codes," said Unal during a press conference at the Combatant Air Force and Air Missile Defence Commandership located in the central Eskisehir province.
The announcement came nearly a week after an RF-4F training aircraft crashed in Turkey's central Konya province, killing two pilots. This was the second aircraft accident in the last two weeks.
Unal said the RF-4E warplanes had been designed solely for exploration.
He said these planes were expected to fly until the end of 2015. Measures had been undertaken to transmit new exploration codes to F-16 jets in a move to retire the RF-4E warplanes from service.
"As of yesterday, we have completed the last tests and the chief commander of Turkish air forces and I will fly a RF-4E warplane in a closing ceremony tomorrow (Thursday)," he added.
Four pilots were killed on Feb. 24 when two military RE-4 aircraft lost contact during reconnaissance flights in the Akcadag district of Turkey's southeastern Malatya province.
