Turkey To Cancel F-35 Order, Cites Rising Costs And Technical Problems

Turkey has decided to defer an order to procure its first two F-35 fighter jets citing technical problems and rising costs, but added that it still plans to buy over a 100 in the future.

“Due to the current state of the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) ... and the rising cost ... it was decided to postpone the order placed on Jan 5, 2012, for the two aircraft,” the Under secretariat for Defence Industry (SSM) said in a statement.

After the initial purchase of the two jets, Turkey plans to order 100 units of the stealth fighter to replace its current fleet consisting mainly of F-4 Phantoms and F-16 Falcons, according to the statement.

The SSM added that the decision was taken because the technical capabilities of the aircraft were”not at the desired level yet”.