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Turkey approves F-35 acquisition

written by australianaviation.com.au | May 7, 2014

The Turkish government has approved the acquisition of its first two of 100 F-35As. (LM)
The Turkish government has approved the acquisition of its first two of 100 F-35As. (LM)

Turkey has become the latest JSF program partner nation to commit to buying the F-35 Lightning II, with approval by the Turkish government on May 6 for an initial order for two aircraft.

A statement from the Turkish government read: “After the evaluation of the current situation in the JSF Program, which Turkey joined as a consortium partner since Concept Demonstration Phase in 1999 in order to meet the Next Generation fighter requirement of Turkish Air Force and has been attending utilizing Turkish industry’s production and assembly capabilities to the maximum extent, the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM) has been tasked to order the first two F-35A aircraft with Block-3F configuration under Low Rate Initial Production-10 (LRIP-10).”

The Turkish statement added that it remained committed to its plan of 100 F-35s. “Up until now, JSF Program is being followed closely and our support to the program continues strong as ever. In this context, Turkey continues her forecast of the acquisition of 100 F-35A aircraft as planned and declared previously.”

In a separate statement, F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin said it is “honoured the Turkish government has committed to procure their first two of 100 program of record F-35A Lightning II 5th generation multirole fighters. This decision confirms the value of acquiring a 5th generation fighter capability and is testimony to the Turkish government’s confidence in the program.”

LRIP 10 is due to be contracted in 2016 for delivery in 2018, and will also be the same batch from which the RAAF’s second batch of eight F-35As will be drawn.

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Comments (9)

  • Raymond

    says:

    And another one… the F-35 naysayers must surely be starting to feel just a little bit silly now?

  • The Road Runner

    says:

    Have to agree Raymond.
    Australia’s first 2 training aircraft(LRIP 6) must be coming together quiet well.They should be training the pilots and ground crews who will fly and maintain our JSF for the next 30 plus years.

    Of note LRIP 8 is where the magic will happen from a hardware and soft ware point of view.This block will have full war fighting capability. Australia’s LRIP 10 will be a very different bird compared to the LRIP 6 version.

    As i understand it Australia has 2 x LRIP-6, 8 xLRIP-10 and 4 x LRIP 11 versions.
    Dose anyone know what the breakdown will be of the next 58 JSF for Australia?

    Exciting times for JSF

    Cheers

  • John N

    says:

    Yes the anti-F-35 brigade must be choking and spluttering with this latest announcement!

    After Australia’s recent announcement for an additional 58 and now Turkey’s initial order for 2 (of a still planned 100), it will be interesting over the next 12 months to see if some of the other nations that have been dragging the chain and sitting on the fence, will start to make commitments for the order of their initial batch of aircraft, (though I suspect poor old Canada will still be sitting on that political indecision fence for some time to come!)

    Hey The Road Runner! (TRR from DT I presume?), yes it will be interesting to see what the breakdown of batches for the RAAF’s orders will be, looking back at the press conference the other week, the PM said that “we will have 72 operational Joint Strike Fighters, F-35s by 2023”.

    You would have to suspect that to deliver those additional 58 airframes by 2023, even by end of 2023 (after the initial 14 approved spread across LRIP’s, 6, 10 and 11 are delivered), that batches of ‘well’ more than 10 per year would have to be ordered to meet that deadline.

    Hopefully there might be some announcements, or indications, when the Budget is announced soon.

    Cheers,

    John N

    • australianaviation.com.au

      says:

      The RAAF buy profile is the current 2 from LRIP 6, then eight jets in LRIP 10 (2018 delivery), 15 in LRIP 11 (2019), then MYP annual batches of 15, 15, 15, & two to get to 72 in 2023.
      Phase 2C will look at two additional batches of 13 and 15 if and when that time comes.

      Cheers

      Andrew

  • The Road Runner

    says:

    Hi John ..yep thats me from DT 🙂 meep meep!

    Hi Andrew thank you for that.
    From LRIP 9 and on i am under the impression the changes will just be software changes?

    Was reading an article today by Air Vice Marshal Osley that stated JSF will have up to 650 parameters to identify a threat. Most 4th gen fighters have approx. 6 parameters to identify a threat. When you see numbers like that you realise what a game changer JSF is.It truly is a ISR and networked fighter.

    Cheers

    • australianaviation.com.au

      says:

      RR

      Not necessarily just software changes – there will be hardware tech refreshes as well, but the open architecture of the jet should accommodate this.

      But from LRIP 9 sufficient flight test and static test data should have been gleaned to validate the aircraft’s design and primary structure. We wrote a story here (http://australianaviation.com.au/2014/04/lockmart-to-retrofit-cracked-f-35b-bulkheads/) a couple of months back which partly explains the re-design and retrofit process.

      Have you got a link to that AVM Osley article you mentioned?

      Cheers

      Andrew

  • stephen

    says:

    I often wondered about the F35 potential for lower costs at higher production rates. Maybe it shall come to be realized with these latest demonstrations of interest and commitment. Air superiority has a high cost to control the high ground as we said in the infantry.

  • The Road Runner

    says:

    Hi Andrew

    Here is the quote ..from the 16th March 2012 at the Parliament hearings ,so he is on the record.

    “Air Vice Marshal Osley : And so the strength of the joint strike fighter—and I use this as an example—is that it has the ability to have up to 650 parameters by which it will identify a potential threat out there. Other aircraft, such as the F22 have about a third of that and fourth-generation aircraft have perhaps half a dozen. So if you are in an F18 or in some of the other Soviet aircraft you only have a very limited understanding of what the threat is and being able to identify it at a distance. If we are able to do as we plan with the F35, and that is to have good access to the software and to be able to program it appropriately with mission data, it will have the ability to identify hostile aircraft at quite a considerable distance. Then decisions will be made within the formation, it will play to its strengths and it will defeat it, but not by going within visual range.”

    http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22committees/commjnt/2dbe833f-6e45-4a8a-b615-8745dd6f148e/0000%22

    • australianaviation.com.au

      says:

      Ahh ok, thanks. Yes, I remember that well.
      Cheers
      Andrew

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