Turkey has agreed to order a second batch of F-35 aircraft.
Turkey’s Defence Industry Executive Committee has agreed to an order of a second batch of Lockheed Martin F-35s for the Turkish Air Force.
Turkey has committed to procure a total of 116 aircraft. Turkey placed its first order in 2014.
On the 12th of July 2002, Turkey became the seventh international partner in the JSF Project, joining the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark and Norway.
In January 2007, Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding for involvement in F-35 production. The Turkish Air Force is planning to initially order 116 F-35A at a reported cost of $11 billion. In October 2009, Murad Bayar, head of the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, has said that Turkey may increase its order to 120 aircraft instead of purchasing Eurofighter Typhoons.
The plan is that the F-35 will be produced under license in Turkey by Turkish Aerospace Industries. TAI is one of the two international suppliers to Northrop Grumman (the other being Terma in Denmark). A Letter of Intent was signed between TAI and Northrop Grumman ISS International on 6 February 2007.
With the LOI, TAI became the second source for the F-35 center fuselage. The number of center fuselages to be produced by TAI will depend on the number of F-35s Turkey procures and the number of F-35s produced worldwide. On 10 December 2007, TAI was authorised by Northrop Grumman to commence fabricating access doors and composite parts for the first two F-35 production aircraft. These components are used in the F-35 center fuselage, a major section of the aircraft being produced by Northrop Grumman, a principal member of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 global industry team.
The UK is still the only tier 1 partner isn’t it and contributed a fair chunk of money into the very early upfront development costs didn’t it? Sometimes I wonder whether the UK negotiated hard enough for benefits in return for being the sole tier 1 partner. From the article it almost sounds as if Turkey is getting as much industrial kickback as us in return for a lower commitment and not being in from the start.