Türkiye reduces $23B F-16 deal with US
A Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet. (AFP Photo)
Türkiye’s Defense Minister Yasar Guler announced a significant reduction in the country’s planned $23 billion F-16 package with the United States.
Speaking at budget session in parliament, Guler said Türkiye has scrapped its purchase of 79 modernization kits, choosing instead to rely on the capabilities of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for fleet upgrades.
Türkiye revises F-16 fighter jet deal with US
The revised agreement will see Türkiye acquire 40 F-16 Block-70 Viper jets and specialized munitions at a cost of approximately $7 billion. Guler confirmed an initial payment of $1.4 billion has been made toward the procurement.
The decision to forego modernization kits significantly lowered the deal’s total cost.
“An initial payment has been made within the scope of the F-16 Block 70 procurement. We have invested 1.4 billion dollars. With this, we will buy 40 F-16 Block 70 Viper aircraft,” Guler said.
‘TAI facilities are capable of modernizing these F-16s’
“We were going to modernize 79, but we gave that up. We gave it up because our TAI facilities are capable of modernizing these F-16s. Therefore, we transferred them there. We will buy 40 airplanes. There are also munitions, we will buy them. The total will be about 6.5-7 billion dollars,” Guler added.
Türkiye is also exploring options to acquire Eurofighter Typhoon jets and is developing its own combat aircraft, Kaan. Also with over 200 F-16 jets currently in service, Türkiye is one of the largest operators of the aircraft globally.
