Turkey scales down $23 billion F-16 jet deal with US, minister says

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey has reduced its planned $23 billion acquisition of an F-16 fighter jet package from the United States, scrapping the purchase of 79 modernisation kits for its existing fleet, Defence Minister Yasar Guler said late on Tuesday.

NATO member Turkey earlier this year secured a deal to procure 40 F-16 fighter jets and 79 modernisation kits for its existing F-16s from the United States, after a long-delayed process.

“An initial payment has been made for the procurement of F-16 Block-70. A payment of $1.4 billion has been made. With this, we will buy 40 F-16 Block-70 Viper and we were going to buy 79 modernisation kits,” Guler told a parliamentary hearing.

“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 $7 billion, Guler added.

Turkey placed its order in October 2021, two years after the United States kicked the country out of the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet program over its procurement of a Russian missile defence system.

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, with its fleet made up 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 own combat aircraft, KAAN.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Christopher Cushing)