Thursday, December 23, 2010

Turkey’s plans - Arab News

"Turkey’s plans

If Ankara genuinely wants to produce a fighter aircraft, it needs to think hard about collaborating with other countries.

Turkey has the ninth largest standing army in the word and, within NATO, an air force third only to that of the US and the UK. Keeping that air force up to date is of major importance to any government in Ankara. Thirteen years ago, a $45-billion plan was launched to modernize it. The program includes more F16s, which Turkey builds itself, as well as 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Like Saudi Arabia, Turkey also looked at acquiring Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. But now Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül says that a Eurofighter purchase is “off the agenda”."

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