Turkey's Ministry of Defense has released images of the Russian-made S-400 Long Range Air Defense Missile System arriving at Murted Air Base near the Turkish capital Ankara. The equipment and cars that transport them arrived aboard an An-124 and an IL-76.
Turkey has already shown interest in the S-400 System since 2017 and last week warned that the first weapons would soon arrive.
“According to the plan, the third [Russian] plan has landed, the activities scheduled for today are more. The process will continue in the coming days.“, Turkish Minister Hulusi Akar told Anadolou Agency.
The S-400 can reach targets at a distance of 400 km and at an altitude of up to 30 km, making it one of the main Air Defense Systems in the world.
Issues involving the S-400 System:
By far the most talked about issue about the acquisition of the S-400 System is how another big purchase by the Turks would look like, that of the 5th generation US fighters, the F-35 Lightning II.
Since the Turks showed interest in Russian armament, the Americans were against it and did several threats to veto the sale of the F-35 fighters, if Turkey buys the S-400 system. It will probably happen with the arrival of the equipment and that would be bad for Turkey since there are already Turkish F-35 fighters in the USA ready for delivery, as well as pilots who have undergone training and this already involves a lot of money, in addition to the fact that Turkey is a member country of the F-35 Program.
Turkey, on the other hand, was trying to reach an agreement with the US to have the F-35 even though it had the S-400 system, but the US was always reluctant to face this reality and from that point on the Turks began to create other ways to re-equip their air force with a modern aircraft. This is the case with the Turkish Aerospace project, TF-X, a 5th generation aircraft that was presented to the world last month during the Paris Airshow.
Investments are expected to reach TL 4,8 billion and the production of the aircraft is expected to employ 3200 people, with an indirect employment contribution estimated at around 11200.
The TF-X will feature stealth technology, will use air-to-air roles, also considering air-to-surface roles, will have a full range of radar, sensor and weapons technology and will be a twin-engine aircraft.
Turkey is looking for partnerships for the TF-X fighter, one of them could be the United Kingdom, through Rolls-Royce, however this partnership is still not certain, which has lost strength in the last 12 months.
source: TASS / Edition: Aeroflap
