diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2d0ceac..1f1e491 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -20,3 +20,5 @@ SOURCES/resolvelib-0.5.4.tar.gz
 /ansible-core-2.15.3.tar.gz
 /ansible-documentation-2.15.3.tar.gz
 /docutils-0.20.1.tar.gz
+/ansible-core-2.16.1.tar.gz
+/ansible-documentation-2.16.1.tar.gz
diff --git a/ansible-core.spec b/ansible-core.spec
index a796548..39fadb7 100644
--- a/ansible-core.spec
+++ b/ansible-core.spec
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 
 Name: ansible-core
 Summary: SSH-based configuration management, deployment, and task execution system
-Version: 2.15.3
+Version: 2.16.1
 Release: 1%{?dist}
 ExcludeArch: i686
 
@@ -210,6 +210,9 @@ strip --strip-unneeded %{vendor_path}/markupsafe/_speedups%{python3_ext_suffix}
 %{python3_sitelib}/ansible_test
 
 %changelog
+* Thu Dec 07 2023 Dimitri Savineau <dsavinea@redhat.com> - 2.16.1-1
+- ansible-core 2.16.1 release (RHEL-18965)
+
 * Wed Aug 16 2023 Dimitri Savineau <dsavinea@redhat.com> - 2.15.3-1
 - ansible-core 2.15.3 release (rhbz#2232431)
 - Use docs and examples from ansible-documentation project.
diff --git a/remove-bundled-deps-from-requirements.patch b/remove-bundled-deps-from-requirements.patch
index 8000217..27c3f99 100644
--- a/remove-bundled-deps-from-requirements.patch
+++ b/remove-bundled-deps-from-requirements.patch
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
-index a07aa98506..ef189d6594 100644
+index 5eaf9f2cbc..792daa209a 100644
 --- a/requirements.txt
 +++ b/requirements.txt
-@@ -3,16 +3,8 @@
+@@ -3,13 +3,5 @@
  # packages.  Thus, this should be the loosest set possible (only required
  # packages, not optional ones, and with the widest range of versions that could
  # be suitable)
@@ -10,9 +10,6 @@ index a07aa98506..ef189d6594 100644
  PyYAML >= 5.1  # PyYAML 5.1 is required for Python 3.8+ support
  cryptography
 -packaging
- # importlib.resources in stdlib for py3.9 is lacking native hooks for
- # importlib.resources.files
- importlib_resources >= 5.0, < 5.1; python_version < '3.10'
 -# NOTE: resolvelib 0.x version bumps should be considered major/breaking
 -# NOTE: and we should update the upper cap with care, at least until 1.0
 -# NOTE: Ref: https://github.com/sarugaku/resolvelib/issues/69
diff --git a/sources b/sources
index 6181001..6a4fcb6 100644
--- a/sources
+++ b/sources
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-SHA512 (ansible-core-2.15.3.tar.gz) = ba91faef7ace83adf8c6f98ee8eb0186c1fef03657e595857f2255b697e91bfa2df716e9b733d23567f78228281a57940c9a0243d94b54bc7a1d2c0845f19d26
-SHA512 (ansible-documentation-2.15.3.tar.gz) = c6c034b639fed1e6fac4e0dd217a6746006e67499cc66e476f3a00bf2f2bdf530085d1d9a95bba6a4ecb180366645e3379a1de1ab11e978b7793a7b5fbbb18a6
+SHA512 (ansible-core-2.16.1.tar.gz) = c01ad95fedc47a8467c9ddf00ac05875d11507ad63da4978c1e6a9d17f3ae200da288851175378147302eb590af9fe6071042695faad3b9aee60161a0df27a6b
+SHA512 (ansible-documentation-2.16.1.tar.gz) = 0b7bba7322beb73f74a582b2fec974b1c0a08e549415def191a9f6ec3068c2c459cf072ce5b40479ee68b706ef1a494026df5af329e233b92dc15e29e673bfc7
 SHA512 (docutils-0.20.1.tar.gz) = a0ddca315d03677003036d6a8052ac96fbd3fcc4508564938ea684d79bedb4d322d83449c7b26e55b19b0aadd6e46ca9ac409bb16279a20f06c70e9c15ef5eb0
 SHA512 (Jinja2-3.1.2.tar.gz) = 5dfe122c1beef5305b34d25f22f96607bd3a6cba098b03091850ea36fefe62b645a7218d7584b35bea252393ac922c9bb3654a9e90f23bcfb273e811fcf2f2c1
 SHA512 (MarkupSafe-2.1.2.tar.gz) = 84dbeddaf2df713b3cce94eb64876fea8f80c608e25130c18e4691be2b1dea56df8b772d26c0caca88231ef795125eb9678210c33bf20518c18e3047912ddb4b