Washington briefing: Turkey to buy more combat aircraft from U.S.

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Saturday March 21, 2009

Turkish F-16s.

Washington - Turkey will take delivery of 30 new F-16 fighter jets produced by Lockheed Martin Corporation, news agencies reported. The order is worth $797 million and planes would be locally built in Turkey by 2012. When initially negotiated in 2006, the deal for 30 aircraft was valued at $2.7 billion, but the price tag has since been repeatedly discounted.

Turkey already possesses 216 F-16s, produced in Turkey in the 1980s and 90s, and since partially upgraded. Starting 2014, in a deal worth more than $10 billion over 20 years, Turkey plans to take delivery of more than 100 F-35s, a new-generation combat aircraft currently under development by companies from the United States, Turkey, and seven other countries.