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.
Subscribe to Pravda.Ru Telegram channel, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, RSS!
The Ukrainian army is threatened with a new catastrophe and a repetition of the Azovstal situation. If in the nearest future the personnel of the military formations of the Kyiv regime do not leave Severodonetsk, then the group will be destroyed or captured. This opinion was expressed by correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny.