Turkey, Russia cooperating on development of Turkish fighter jet

Turkey and Russia are cooperating in the defense sphere, including on the development of Turkey’s TF-X fighter jet, Head of Turkey’s Defense Industry Ismail Demir said on Sunday.

“There are many provisions on cooperation in our talks with Russia. They include issues linked with the development of [Turkey’s] national warplanes [TF-X]. Since the TF-X national jet will leave the airplane shed in 2023, there is a type of engine we have chosen and there are certain systems. But it will undergo phased process of replacement, development, modernization and localization of certain systems with time. During this process, talks may be held with the Russian side about concrete localization systems. Today, we are not discussing such a wide range of details,” he said in an interview with the Milliyet newspaper.

Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev said in August that Russia and Turkey were in consultations on issues of cooperation in the area of the development of Turkey’s TF-X fighter jet.

Turkey has been working on the projects of its national fighter jet since 2016. British BAE Systems is also taking part. Works on TF-X were held concurrently with Turkey’s participation in the F-35 fighter jet program. The country was supposed to receive around a hundred of such jets but the United States excluded Turkey from the program following Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 missile defense systems.