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 by Staff Writers Ankara (AFP) Aug 30, 2019
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday suggested Turkey could look to Russia for an alternative after the US excluded Ankara from its F-35 fighter jet programme. Following Turkey's controversial purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defence system, Washington discontinued Turkey's involvement in the F-35 programme. "If the US continues with the same attitude on the F-35 issue, we will take care of ourselves. Will it be the Su-35? The F-35? Or the Su-57?" Erdogan told reporters in Ankara, referring to Russia's Sukhoi fighter jets. He indicated that the Turkish government was still in the early stages of considering its options. "Beyond putting the Su-35, F-35 or Su-57 on the table, we are exploring what measures we can take for our defence industry, for our defence," Erdogan said. He added that joint production and credit plans were conditions that would be sought. Turkey has repeatedly said that Ankara wants to become a producer of military hardware and not just a buyer from countries such as the United States and Russia. Erdogan's comments came after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday on the margins of the MAKS international air show on the outskirts of Moscow, a showcase for Russia's military and civilian aerospace industry. Turkey had ordered over 100 F-35 jets and its defence industry had ploughed significant investment into the jet's development. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier on Friday during a visit to Oslo that Turkey had already spent $1.4 billion on the F-35 programme. "In the worst case scenario, President Donald Trump told Erdogan in Osaka during the G20 (summit in June) that they will pay this money back to Turkey. But we hope that we will not get to that stage," Cavusoglu said.
Airbus drops bid to replace Canada fighter jets The contract is reportedly valued at a minimum Can$15 billion (US$11.4 billion). The company announced in a statement with Britain's Defense Ministry that the Typhoon fighter presented by the Eurofighter consortium would no longer be among the candidates. The statement cited two factors for the decision, the first of which was that security requirements from the joint US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) were too expensive. "NORAD security requirements continue to place too significant of a cost on platforms whose manufacture and repair chains sit outside" the United States and Canada, the statement said. The new aircraft's central role will be to patrol North American air space with the US Air Force under NORAD. Additionally, "the significant recent revision of industrial technological benefits (ITB) obligations does not sufficiently value the binding commitments the Typhoon Canada package was willing to make, and which were one of its major points of focus," the statement said. Airbus's withdrawal leaves the field open to three other candidates: Saab's Gripen, Lockheed Martin's F-35 and Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet. France's Dassault Aviation took its Rafale out of the running in November because of technical requirements tied to Canada's membership in the "Five Eyes" signals intelligence sharing group of nations that the company could not meet, sources told AFP. The Five Eyes group is comprised of Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. The defense contractors have until the spring of 2020 to submit initial proposals with a contract award due in early 2022 and delivery expected in 2025. After a trade dispute with Boeing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government announced in 2017 that, instead of buying 18 new Super Hornets, it would buy 18 used F-18s from Australia as a stop-gap measure.
Lockheed to build F-35 maintenance, repair facility for Japanese fleet Washington (UPI) Aug 28, 2019 Lockheed Martin Co. will build a maintenance repair and upgrade facility in Japan for its F-35 fighter plane fleet under a $25.2 million contract announced by the U.S. Defense Department. The contract, announced Tuesday, calls for construction of a regional facility to handle repairs, as well as maintenance and upgrades, on Japan's F-35s. The facility, specifically "for the Government of Japan under the Foreign Military Sales program," is expected to be completed by September 2022. The m ... read more
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