Turkey confirmed its interest in Eurofighter Typhoon fighters if the F-16 Fighting Falcon deal fails

About two weeks ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hinted that his country was ready to buy Russian Su-35 jets if the U.S. refused to sell fourth-generation F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters. But now Turkey has one more option.

Here's What We Know

Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin confirmed rumors that the Air Force may be supplemented with European Eurofighter Typhoon fighters. The speaker added that Turkey would never be without alternatives, but no details of a possible deal are available yet.

Last fall, Ankara requested 40 F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft and 80 upgrade kits from Washington. This came after Turkey was excluded from the development program for the fifth generation fighter aircraft F-35 Lighting II because of its desire to buy Russian S-400 air defense systems.

The U.S. had agreed to sell the F-16 Fighting Falcon, but then the deal was blocked. Turkey's last chance to get American planes is to hope for Joe Biden. This could happen if the White House believes that sending fighter jets to Turkey will strengthen U.S. national security.

The issue has been put on the back burner after Ankara refused to block Sweden and Finland from joining NATO. But it all came to a halt again after the Turkish authorities refused to guarantee the non-use of U.S. planes in a possible military conflict with Greece. By the way, Athens not only acquired French Rafale planes, but also had its eye on American F-35 Lightning II fighters.

Source: Janes

Image: Aviacionline, Blog Before Flight