Special to WorldTribune.com

ANKARA — Turkey, despite U.S. pressure, has remained cautious over
the Joint Strike Fighter project.

Officials said the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has
rebuffed U.S. appeals to submit a major order of the F-35 fighter-jet. They
said the government would remain with the decision by Turkey’s Defense
Industry Executive Board to order two F-35s in 2012.

“This is our decision, and for the time being we will not go any
further,” an official said.

Officials said Turkey would review JSF on an annual basis. They said the Defense Ministry and military were concerned by the delays in the F-35 program as well as steadily increasing price.

So far, no JSF partner has ordered the F-35, a $1 trillion project
headed by Lockheed Martin. Israel, which is not a partner, was the only country to purchase the fifth-generation stealth aircraft.

Turkey, with an investment of some $250 million, has been a Level 3
partner in JSF. But Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said Turkey was working on an interim solution to JSF until its development was completed.

At one point, Ankara planned to order 120 F-35s, with delivery planned to be completed by 2020. But officials said the price of the aircraft has
tripled over the last decade.

“At present the cost of a single jet for Turkey is about $120 million,”
Yilmaz told the Reuters news agency. “In 2002 we had estimated that the
average cost of an F-35 jet would be around $40 million-50 million, but
today the price has reached $120 million.”

Officials cited at least two Turkish options. They said the Defense
Industry Undersecretariat was working on developing an indigenous
fighter-jet. Another alternative was to modernize Turkey’s fleet of F-16 and
F-4 combat aircraft.

“I don’t want you to produce tanks,” Erdogan told executives of a new
steel plant on April 15. “I want you to focus on planes.”

A third option was for the United States and L-M to approve greater
Turkish participation in JSF. Officials said Turkish coproduction of the
F-35, particularly its central fuselage, would reduce the cost of the
project by up to $3.5 billion and enable Ankara to begin significant orders.
The state-owned Turkish Aerospace Industries has nearly completed the
central fuselage of 400 aircraft in a project reported at $4 billion.

“TAI could complete the central fuselage for 624 airplanes with no extra
investment cost,” an industry source told Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper on
April 17. “Doing the job in Turkey could save $3.5 billion, since prices are
higher in the United States and lower in Turkey.”

  Ismet Yilmaz, Joint Strike Fighter, Lockheed Martin, Recep Erdogan, Turkey balks at buying more than two F-35s, Turkish Aerospace Industries