ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey has scaled back its planned $23 billion purchase of F-16 fighter jets from the United States, canceling the purchase of modernization equipment for its existing fleet, Defense Minister Yasar Guler said on Tuesday night.
NATO member Turkey earlier this year secured an agreement to buy 40 F-16 fighter jets and 79 modern equipment for its existing F-16s from the United States, after a long-delayed process.
“The first payment was made for the purchase of F-16 Block-70. The payment of $ 1.4 billion was made. With this, we will buy 40 F-16 Block-70 Viper and we would buy 79 modern kits. ,” said Guler in the forum of Parliament.
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“We gave up on 79. This is why we gave up: Our Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) facilities are capable of doing this modern work by themselves, so we gave up,” he said.
The sale of 40 new Lockheed Martin F-16 jets and their ammunition will cost Turkey about $7 billion, Guler added.
Turkey placed its order in October 2021, two years after the United States pulled the country out of the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet program for its purchase of a Russian missile defense system.
Turkey wants to rejoin the F-35 program and buy 40 new F-35 jets, Guler said.
Turkey is one of the largest users of F-16s, and its fleet consists of more than 200 older Block 30, 40 and 50 models.
Ankara is also interested in buying Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, built by a consortium of Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain.
It is also developing its fighter jet, the KAAN.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
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