Turkey may purchase Russian Su-35 and Su-57 fighter aircraft should the United States freeze the sale of F-16 after the F-35, Ismail Demir, the chief of Turkey's defense industry said.
Dmitry Shugaev, the director of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, told RIA Novosti that Russia was ready to negotiate the sale of Su-35 and Su-57 fighters, should Ankara decide to buy them.
"If the sale of the F-16 does not bring results, Turkey will not be left without alternatives. If necessary, the sale of Su-35 and Su-57 Russian fighter aircraft to Turkey can be negotiated at any time. Our government is doing everything to ensure our safety, and if something extra is needed, we can always find a way out," the Turkish official told Kanal 7 TV channel.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday that the United States offered his country to buy F-16 fighters after Turkey was excluded from the program to acquire state-of-the-art F-35 fighters.
Earlier, the United States sent an official notification to Turkey about its exclusion from the F-35 production program due to Ankara's purchase of S-400 air defense systems from Russia. The United States canceled the joint memorandum for the production of the F-35, which Turkey signed in January 2007, having signed it with seven other partners to the F-35 project - the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, Canada and Norway.
Turkey committed itself to buy 100 F-35 aircraft and took part in the production of over 1,000 components for them.