Posted on 03/04/2024 6:23:35 AM PST by RandFan
The 79 modernization kits may be allowed to help the Russian to counter Ukraine.
“Why does Turkey want these so badly anyway?”
I think there’s some significant butt-hurt on the part of Erdogan. Turkey was the first country to sign on to finance the F-35 development. Congress, the military and probably Israel would have done anything to prevent the eventual sale, but it turns out Erdogan wanted to buy an S-400 and even the most ardent proponent of giving Turkey the F-35 realized that letting the Russian technicians run daily tests against the F-35 would shorten the plane’s utility. so, the sale was cancelled. He then tried to get F-16’s. But by this time all sorts of signals indicated arming what was ultimately going to be our adversary in the region had manifested. So, getting the F-16’s is a political feather in Erdogan’s hat. Also, I’m guessing there’s a bit of graft and corruption somewhere in the mix as there always is in anything Turkish. We’ll probably never know the whole story.
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