Turkey has reduced its planned 23 billion USD acquisition of a F-16 fighter jet package from the United States, scrapping the purchase of 79 modernisation kits for its existing fleet.
Announcement By Defence Minister
Defence Minister Yasar Guler said this late on Tuesday.
Earlier this year, NATO member Turkey secured a deal to procure 40 F-16 fighter jets and 79 modernisation kits for its existing F-16s from the United States.
The Deal Took A long Time
It secured this deal after a long-delayed process.
“An initial payment has been made for the procurement of F-16 Block-70,” Guler told a parliamentary hearing.
Guler further said that a payment of $1.4 billion has been made.
Purchase Plans
“With this, we will buy 40 F-16 Block-70 Viper and we were going to buy 79 modernisation kits,” he said.
“We gave up on this 79. This is why we gave up: Our Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) facilities are capable of carrying out this modernisation on their own, so we deferred to them,” he said.
The sale of the 40 new Lockheed Martin F-16 jets and ammunition for them will cost Turkey some seven billion USD, Guler added.
When Did Turkey Place The Order?
In October 2021, Turkey placed its order, two years after the United States kicked the country out of the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet programme over its procurement of a Russian missile defence system.
Turkey Wants to Buy 40 New F-35 Jets
Turkey wants to re-join the F-35 programme and buy 40 new F-35 jets, Guler also said.
Turkey is one of the largest operators of F-16s.
Its fleet is made up of more than 200 older Block 30, 40 and 50 models.
Interest In Buying Eurofighter Typhoon Fighter Jets
Ankara is also interested in buying Euro fighter Typhoon fighter jets, built by a consortium of Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain.
It is also developing its own combat aircraft, KAAN
(With inputs from Reuters)
