Turkey Not Planning To Buy Russia's Su-35 Fighters Instead Of US F-35 - Defense Industries

Turkey does not intend to purchase Su-35 fighters from Russia instead of the US' F-35s, the delivery of which was frozen by Washington due to Ankara's acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defense system, President of Defense Industries Ismail Demir said on Monday

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th January, 2021) Turkey does not intend to purchase Su-35 fighters from Russia instead of the US' F-35s, the delivery of which was frozen by Washington due to Ankara's acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defense system, President of Defense Industries Ismail Demir said on Monday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said that Ankara would take measures, including looking for the same equipment in other countries, if Washington refused to sell it the latest F-35 fighters.

"The acquisition of the Su-35 [fighters] from Russia is on the agenda. But we have no idea to replace one aircraft with another.

Our main goal is national combat aircraft. We will do what is most fully in line with our national interests," Demir said, as quoted by the CNN Turk broadcaster.

In July 2019, the United States suspended Ankara's participation in its F-35 multirole fighter program over the delivery of the first batch of S-400 batteries to Turkey and later completely removed it from the project. In December, Washington imposed sanctions on Turkey's weapons procurement sector over the S-400 issue. Despite that, however, Turkey continues to manufacture F-35 parts.