Turkey-UK’s Arms deal, and the USA
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Roshan Amiri
- . January 21, 2023
- . Update: January 21, 2023 10:32 pm
United Kingdom over a possible sale of a large package of weapons. In the list of weapons, there are many planes, fighter jets, and engines included. On this Sunday the Defence minister of Turkey visited London and they met with their British counterpart, Ben Wallace.
On this visit, the ministers of the countries discussed the value of such a deal at over $10 billion. The C-130J transport plane and Type 23 frigates are also part of this discussion. They also discussed Ankara purchasing Eurofighter jets.
This is happening at a time when Ankara is facing trouble in getting 40 new F-16 aircraft and 79 modernization kits for its existing F-16 fleet, the reason is the Politics of the US Congress.
After the Tukey and Uk’s discussion, the US lawmakers and senators have announced they will oppose the move of Greece in which Alleged aggression against Ankara is included.
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US officials also made a discussion with Turkish counterparts, Turkey’s relaxation of conditions set for Sweden to become a NATO member will help overcome opposition to the fighter jet deal in Congress.
Although Turkey has the largest fleet of F-16s, they are now too old and it is not wise to use them.
Ankara finds itself in a typical condition Because it has designed its medium-term air defense based on the acquisition of F-35 jets which is of the 5th generation. The USA officially throw Turkey out of the F-35 program in 2019 because they had imported Russian-made S-400 air defense systems.
Though in June Turkey said that if the USA does not make progress on the F-16 purchase request from Turkey then, they may be interested in buying Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets from the United Kingdom. Let us tell you that this Eurofighter Typhoon is made by companies from the UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Sources of media are saying that Turkey was willing to buy two squadrons of Eurofighters, between 24 and 48 units.
Though Eurofighter acquisition of Ankara will not be easy. They need to do many technical changes as per the Turkish needs.
The Turkish military is familiar and Qatar is believed to have sent some of its Eurofighter jets. You may be aware that due to a bilateral agreement, Doha can station its air force in Turkey.
Though Turkey has its fighter jet programs like TFX and Hurjet. But the problem is that they are not proven, and the date of delivery can vary so this is the main reason why Turkey is looking for a way to solve the problem of weapons in the UK.
The C-130J, the most advanced version of the transport aircraft, would be a good addition to the inventory of Turkey and it is delayed because of Libyan missions in Ankara.
It is unclear whether Ankara will be able to decide on potential purchases before the presidential election because a new government may have different views on procurement plans. But the relationship between the UK and Turkey is very special because they are part of NATO too.
