diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 9d69dcb0d..1424643a8 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import java.nio.file.Paths
 
 buildscript {
     ext {
-        opensearch_version = System.getProperty("opensearch.version", "2.15.0-SNAPSHOT")
+        opensearch_version = System.getProperty("opensearch.version", "2.16.0-SNAPSHOT")
         buildVersionQualifier = System.getProperty("build.version_qualifier", "")
         isSnapshot = "true" == System.getProperty("build.snapshot", "true")
         version_tokens = opensearch_version.tokenize('-')