Turkey ‘threatened’ the US to buy Russian Su-57

11/04/2022 19:45 GMT+7

Accordingly, Ankara has asked Washington to provide 40 F-16 Block 70 fighters and 80 Block 70 upgrade kits for Turkish F-16 aircraft already in service. If this request is not accepted, Ankara will start looking for alternatives, including the Russian Su-57.

It is known that the Agreement requires approval from both the US State Department and the US Congress.

The Su-57 is a Russian 5th generation multirole fighter. (Photo: RIA)

The decade-long partnership between the United States and Turkey has experienced many ups and downs over the past few years, related to issues such as disagreements over Syria policy, close ties between Turkey and Turkey. Turkey with Russia, Turkey’s record of freedom and human rights.

According to experts, Turkey’s proposal to buy new F-16 aircraft is difficult to get accepted by the US Congress due to strained relations between the two countries after the S-400 crisis. The US Congress has bipartisan support to push the administration of President Joe Biden to continue to put pressure on Turkey over the S-400 purchase and its poor human rights record. On the other hand, Turkey hopes relations improve under President Biden.

Forbes recently quoted information from independent research group BlueMelange as saying that Turkey currently has about 236 F-16s, including Block 30, Block 40, Block 50 and Block 50+ variants with readiness levels. fighting diminishes due to their longevity.

Therefore, now Turkey is looking for the latest F-16 Block 70. According to Lockheed Martin, this variant combines capability upgrades, most notably an advanced active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar with a new avionics structure and other upgrades that extend its lifespan. The aircraft’s lifespan is 50% longer than that of previous production F-16s.

Earlier, Russia announced its readiness to negotiate with Turkey on the supply of Su-57 and Su-35.

In October last year, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that the US had offered to buy F-16 fighter jets after Ankara was excluded from the program to produce the latest F-35 fighter jet. At the same time, Turkey stated that it can buy Russian Su-35 and Su-57 fighter jets if the US freezes the sale of F-16s after the F-35.

Su-57 is a 5th generation stealth fighter developed by Russia to compete with US and Western rivals such as F-22, F-35. The strength of the Su-57 lies not only in its stealth capabilities, but also in the most advanced Russian aviation technologies today such as active electronically scanned array radar, ePilot pilot support system, as well as a series of sensors and modern aviation weapons…

The Su-57 (also known as PAK FA, experimental name T-50) is designed to destroy all types of air, land and sea targets. The Su-57 made its first flight in 2010. At the end of 2018, Russia twice deployed the Su-57 to Syria for actual combat testing.

Peace (translation summary)