VTOL aircraft

Turkey expects to take delivery of the first two of a batch of 24 more Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft in 2018, Defense Minister Fikri Isik said on Thursday.

Isik said Turkey would buy a total of 24 F-35s over the next three years, of which six, including the two expected in 2018, had already been ordered.

[Reuters]

Ankara's recent decision to order 24 Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft has brought to the fore a discussion that has been taking place for some years within the Greek armed forces about how Greece can maintain its deterrent capabilities vis a vis Turkey without entering into an arms race with its neighbor.

Ankara is to order a further 24 Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said in an interview with broadcaster A Haber on Tuesday.

Turkey is expected to receive the stealth fighters in 2018.

According to sources, Ankara plans to acquire 116 F-35s to replace its fleet of F-16 jets.

Turkey expects to take delivery of its first Lockheed Martin Corp F-35A fighter jets in 2018 and has decided to order a second batch, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries said on Oct. 28.

The Pentagon did not expect "a major design problem" coming from the in-testing stealth F-35 aircraft, an American defense official said on April 27, noting that some 90 percent of the program was complete.        

"The F-35 is no longer a program that keeps me up at night," said Frank Kendall III, the U.S. undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. 

As Turkey prepares to phase out its fleet of F-16 fighters by 2030 due to high upgrade, repair and maintenance costs, it faces challenging options to rebuild a solid fleet with deterrent firepower. 

The Pentagon has forecast a 3 percent drop in acquisition costs for Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet, but said plans to use the jets six more years would add about $45 billion to the projected operating costs through 2070.

A F-35 stealth fighter jet program that involves the United States, Turkey and others will be delayed for one year due to several technical shortfalls, including problems with radar software, a Pentagon tester said March 23.

Lockheed Martin Corp met its goal of delivering 45 F-35 fighter jets to the U.S. government and key allies in 2015, a 25 percent increase from 2014 that brought the number of jets delivered to 154, the Pentagon said on Dec. 21.

Lockheed Martin Corp has won a preliminary contract valued at up to $5.37 billion to build a ninth batch of 55 F-35 jets for the U.S. military and its allies, the U.S. Defense Department said on Nov. 3.