Turkey ups order for troubled F-35

UPI ^ | 1/26/2011 | UPI

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Turkey may buy up to 116 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets, a deal that could be undermined by U.S. efforts to cut costs of one of the most expensive military programs ever.

"We're planning to buy 100 aircraft with an additional option of another 16," Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul was quoted as saying by Defensenews.com.

Turkey is a member of the U.S.-led nine-nation Joint Strike Fighter consortium, which is building three variants of the F-35. It had previously said it would buy 100 planes, with the Gonul statement for the first time indicating it could become a larger purchase.

Turkey, the NATO member with the second-largest armed forces behind the United States, has a fleet of 240 American-made F-16 jets it wants to gradually replace with new F-35 planes

[Tax Government]

Am I the only one that thinks Turkey should perhaps pound sand; invest in a fleet of Cessna 150s?

[James C. Bennett]

Islamic Turkey given access and ownership to a 5th gen fighter.

Just perfect.

[MasterGunner01]

Exactly right. Why are we selling our most advanced fighter to Muslim enemies. Traitors in the WH, DoD, and DoS.

[NonValueAdded]

what could possibly go wrong? /sarc

[Bobalu]

I say no F-35 jets to Turkey!
Turkey SUX :-(

I say 300 F-35’s to Israel.
And a dozen large 707 tankers to top them off in
a train leading to Tehran!

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Its not a good idea. That technology can end up in Iranian hands. It may not stop there.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I agree.

[DTogo]

No doubt there's a cadre of top Chinese and North Korean engineers waiting in the Turkish hangars to help with the... repairs. Never mind, the complete specs were already divulged on Wikileaks.

Time for Barry to go golfing, and Michelle to give another "healthy choices" speech in a fah-bulous designer outfit.

[James C. Bennett]

Pakistan and Turkey are pretty close.

Israel has a lot to fear from an armed, Islamic Turkey. Their former secularism has almost vanished after the Islamics came to power.

[liberty or death]

1930’s again. Unstable nutcases building up their ability to kill their enemies. Unlike the 30’s many have chemicals & nukes and will scream Allah Akbar while they incinerate entire cities. The Luftwaffe was an ant on a prairie compared to the coming death storm.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I agree. But I do not think that Pakistan can reverse engineer an F-35. But China, North Korea,Iran or Russia could get a hold of this plane and reverse engineer it. But these planes would have to be serviced by only Lockheed Martin or USAF.

[Seaplaner]

Ah, the very same Turkey that (iirc) refused our military forces' passage into Northern Irac during the otherwise astounding "shock and awe" attack.

They are not our friends, and they should get nothing as advanced as the JSF! It would be compromised.

(Especially in light of what happened with chinese copying the stealth fighter technology, n'est ce pas?)

.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

If I was the member of the team writing the contract, there should be a clause that that all planes must be serviced either by Lockheed Martin or the USAF in special hangars. Maybe they can use Incirlik Air Base for repairs.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

You must remember, Turkey is a member of the JSF development program and they put money into this expecting a plane.On January 25,2007 they did sigh a Memorandum of Understanding.But that is non-binding. The Israelis have their planes the F-35I which will be coming online.

[JSteff]

the Gonul statement for the first time indicating it could become a larger purchase.

Remember the Turks new best buddies the Chinese who need their allotment to tear down and back ward engineer their own copy.

[JSteff]

But these planes would have to be serviced by only Lockheed Martin or USAF.

Exactly like the MIRV guidance system the Chinese took off the Loral(?) missiles Bill C had allowed to be test fired for the Chinese in China! Our experts were NOT allowed to even get to the missile for several hours after the "Chinese safety experts" surveyed the damage.

Bill Clinton handed the Chinese the missile targeting and control they wanted and got hefty campaign contributions (and padding for his personal wealth). What is Obama getting for giving then several dozen of our latest generation of fighter technology???

So once again a liberal president hands the weapons of our future destruction to our enemies.

[prophetic]

So once again a liberal president hands the weapons of our future destruction to our enemies.

He's been doing that since his first day in office!! Also that sounds like a nice signature tagline if i ever heard one :-)