Turkey has sent a request to the US to lift the restrictions imposed on the republic in the defense industry, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday during a visit to the State of Palestine.
"The process [of acquiring F-16s from the US] is ongoing, Congress is giving positive signals. We have requested the removal of defense restrictions from the US, and we will continue to demand this," he was quoted as saying by the Hürriyet newspaper.
Ankara has requested 40 F-16 Block 70 fighters and 80 Block 70 upgrade kits from Washington for the aircraft currently in service with its air force. Ankara announced its desire to buy F-16s after it was excluded from the program of producing the fifth generation fighters F-35 due to the purchase of SAMs S-400 from Russia.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS