Reports: Turkey wants to buy more F-16s, update kits
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Turkey has as made a request to the US buy F-16 fighter planes, according to reports by Reuters and NTV.
Ankara wants to buy 40 planes and 80 update kits, Reuters reported, citing "sources familiar with the matter."
Turkey's move comes as it was excluded from the F-35 joint strike fighter program because of its purchase of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems from Russia.
A spokesperson for the US State Department quoted by the US said they would not comment on defense sales until they have been notified to the Congress as a matter of policy.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President Joe Biden will discuss the issue at their meeting at the G20 summit at the and of this month, NTV reported.
Turkey has a total of 245 different types of F-16 jets, according to World Air Forces. Some of them are expected to be retired by 2030.
Before being excluded from the F-35 program, Turkey had ordered more than 100 F-35 planes and had paid 1.25 billion dollars. On September 30, Erdoğan said the US will "either give our money or our planes."
Turkey and the F-35 programTurkey had been in the F-35 program since 1999 and its defense industry had taken part in the production of the planes. The parts manufactured by Alp Aeıspace, AYESAŞ, Kale Aerospace, Kale Pratt & Whitney and the Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (TUSAŞ) have been on all F-35 planes since the first one. Turkey was given the ownership of four F-35 planes in 2018. Pilots from Turkey attended training programs in the US. Later, the ownership of two more planes was given to Turkey but none of them have been delivered to the country due to its purchase of the S-400 missile systems from Russia. Turkey signed the S-400 agreement with Russia in April 2017 and received the first batch of equipment in July 2019, after which the US announced Turkey's suspension from the F-35 program. Previously, the US announced in April 2019 that it suspended the delivery of equipment associated with the F-35 project to Turkey. At the end of July 2019, Turkey's pilots trained for the F-25 program returned to the country. In late 2019, then US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Turkey must choose between the F-35s and the S-400s. As part of its 2020 defense budget, the US decided to buy the six planes owned by Turkey. The US found new supplies for the 1,005 different parts that were produced by Turkey-based companies. Turkey confirmed in October 2020 that it tested the S-400 systems but hasn't activated them yet. In December, the US announced sanctions on Turkey's arms purchasing agency. |
(EMK/VK)