ANKARA — Turkey scaled again a $23 billion army gross sales package deal that features 40 new F-16 Block 70 fighter jets and 79 modernization kits for its present fleet, Turkish Protection Minister Yasar Guler mentioned.
“We gave up on these 79” modernization kits, Guler instructed lawmakers throughout a parliamentary debate on Tuesday night, in keeping with an official transcript of the minutes.
“We gave up on that because of this: Our TUSAS services are at present able to finishing up the F-16 modernization themselves, so we’ll switch it to them,” he added, utilizing the acronym of the Turkish Aerospace Industries.
Turkey tabled its bid for the brand new F-16s in 2020 after it was expelled in 2019 from a world consortium that manufactures next-generation F-35 fighter jets beneath the Countering America’s Adversaries By means of Sanctions Act over its buy of Russian S-400 air protection programs. The act was overwhelmingly handed by Congress in 2017 to discourage important protection transactions with Russia.
Guler mentioned Turkey was nonetheless looking for to return to the F-35 program, beneath which it had already paid roughly $1.4 billion to amass the jets earlier than its buy was blocked.
“We’re each insisting on the return of our manufacturing share and expressing our need to amass a complete of 40 F-35 plane,” he mentioned.
Ankara and Washington have been engaged on a reconciliation relating to the S-400s involving the switch of the Russian programs to US-controlled elements of Incirlik Air Base on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast in return for its buy of the F-35s, the Greek press reported in September.
Guler steered on Tuesday that the 2 capitals might need agreed on a location to maintain the S-400s. “In our current conferences with the Individuals relating to the S-400s, they mentioned issues like, ‘You’ll do that, you’ll do this.’ We rejected all of it,” Guler mentioned.
“At present, on the situation that [the S-400s] stay at a location of what we have now agreed to, the Individuals now not have any objections in regards to the S-400s,” he added with out offering additional particulars.
The Biden administration formally endorsed the F-16 sale in January of this 12 months after Turkey accepted Sweden’s NATO membership, dropping almost two years of objections. The enlargement of the transatlantic alliance turned a key overseas coverage agenda merchandise for the Biden administration amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Turkey, NATO’s second-largest military, can be looking for to expedite the procurement course of in a bid to keep up the deterrence capabilities of its air fleet.
