Turkey will not buy Su-35 fighter aircraft from Russia instead of American F-16, big blow to Putin

Turkey has intensified the search for another option after the cancellation of the deal for F-16 fighter jets with America. Turkish media have reported that if the F-16 plan fails, the Eurofighter Typhoon may be considered for purchase from Europe. The Eurofighter Typhoon has been jointly developed by the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo together manufacture this fighter aircraft. Earlier, Ismail Demir, the head of Turkey’s Defense Industry Agency, said that his country was looking at Russia’s Su-35 as an alternative in the event of the failure of the F-16 deal. Saying no to Russian fighter jets is being said to be a big blow for Vladimir Putin. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls Putin his closest friend. Recently he also had a bilateral meeting with Putin at the SCO summit.

Typhoon inspected on British airbase tour

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar visited the Royal Air Force Conningsby station on Thursday as part of his official visit to Britain to meet his counterpart Ben Wallace, according to Turkish newspaper Yeni Akit. At the airbase, the Turkish minister had a chance to see the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter plane. The report said Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin had recently said that the Eurofighter Typhoon could become an alternative to the F-16. In such a situation, the recent visit of the Defense Minister of Turkey has confirmed this statement.

America imposed sanctions on Turkey for buying S-400

In 2019, the US imposed several sanctions on Turkey for buying the S-400 air defense system from Russia. The US removed Turkey from the F-35 fighter aircraft program. Not only this, Washington had also canceled the joint memorandum on F-35 purchase with Turkey, which Turkey had signed with the United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, Canada and Norway. Turkish President Recep Tayer Erdogan later said that the US had invited Ankara to buy other fighter jets, but the fourth-generation F-16 was yet to be agreed in the US Congress.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a multination twin engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter jet. The Typhoon was primarily developed as an air superiority aircraft. It is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo. The top speed of Eurofighter Typhoon is 2495 kmph. It was put into service for the first time in 2003. Eurofighter Typhoon is 16 meters long and 11 meters wide. Its first flight took place on 27 Mar 1994. It uses two types of engines, the turbofan and the Eurojet EJ200.