A day after vowing closer defence cooperation with Russia, Turkey said Wednesday it would seek "alternatives" to the F-35 fighter jet programme the United States has excluded it from.

Washington said last month Turkey will be scrapped from the F-35 programme after Ankara bought Russian S-400 air defence systems.

"We need war jets. If we cannot buy the F-35s, we will look for new alternatives," official news agency Anadolu quoted Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying in the Estonian capital of Tallinn.

Turkey has lambasted as "unfair" the US move to exclude it from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme. The White House said the jet could not "coexist with a Russian intelligence collection platform that will be used to learn about its advanced capabilities."

Turkey has said it plans to start using the S-400 missile defence system by April 2020. The second phase of delivery began Tuesday.

Ankara had ordered more than 100 F-35 jets and its defence industry has invested significant sums in the plane's development.

On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his counterpart Vladimir Putin on the margins of the MAKS international air show, a showcase for Russia's military and civilian aerospace industry.

Putin said he and Erdogan had discussed further military cooperation, including on Russia's Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet, while the Turkish leader expressed Ankara's willingness to continue defence collaboration.

Related Links
Aerospace News at SpaceMart.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Air Force C-130s back in service after checks for wing cracks
Washington (UPI) Aug 23, 2019
All but one of the Total Force C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft of the U.S. Air Force grounded earlier this month to address cracks in wing joints have been cleared for duty. The 112 aircraft, of 450 total in the fleet, returned to worldwide service after they were grounded on Aug. 7 to examine what Air Force Materiel Command called "atypical cracks" in their lower center wing joints, known as "rainbow fittings." The fittings hold the inner and outer wing sections together. The eight-hour i ... read more