ISTANBUL (Turkey), May 7 (SeeNews) – Turkey’s Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM) said it will order two F-35 fighter jets with Block-3F configuration under the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) defence procurement programme.
Turkey affirms its earlier announced plans to acquire 100 F-35A aircraft, SSM said in a statement on its website on Tuesday.
The JSF programme was initiated by the U.S. government to meet the new generation fighter aircraft requirements of the US Services beyond 2010. The program scope consists of cooperative development, production and sustainment of the F-35 aircraft within an international partnership. LM Aero Team, which consists of defence companies Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems, is the prime contractor in the programme. Turkey joined the JSF programme in order to meet the next generation fighter requirement of Turkish Air Force to replace the existing fleet, according to information on the website of SSM.
SSM said also in the statement that it will perform necessary activities for the establishment of the final assembly and check-out line and depot level maintenance center for F135 engine within Turkish local industry and Turkish Air Force structure. Turkey aims to provide service to all F-35 users around the region via these facilities to be established, SSM added.