Turkish Air Force maneuvering between Washington, Kiev and Moscow
The administration of US President Joseph Biden has asked Congressional leaders to approve the modernization of the Turkish fleet of F-16 fighter jets, thereby creating an important precedent for further military sales to a NATO ally.
The Americans will give the "green light" to their other allies – a signal that the embargo on the supply of military technology to Turkey is ending. Including the supply of components for the Bayraktar UAV (" Turkish drones are flying all over the world ", "HBO", 04/21/12). American officials familiar with the request said that the Biden administration could use the deal to assess the level of support in Congress for a separate proposal to sell 40 units of new F-16s to Turkey, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Ties between Turkey and the West have been strained due to Ankara's military expansion into Libya and Syria, as well as its position on maritime territorial disputes with Greece. The Turkish state has also been criticized for deviating from human rights issues ("The African tour of the Turkish "Flag Bearer", "HBO", 04/14/12).
However, all these are technical details. The main thing is the toxic figure of President Recep Erdogan himself for the collective West, who acts "not according to the rules." It is enough to recall his blackmail of Brussels during the migration crisis. But recently, the conflict in Ukraine has overshadowed this trend.
AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF A SPECIAL OPERATION IN UKRAINE
Since the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine, Turkey has mediated and held two rounds of talks between Kiev and Moscow. In addition, it supplied combat drones in the interests of the Ukrainian ground forces and closed the Bosphorus Strait for some ships of the Russian Navy.
Turkey has also sought to use its support for Ukraine to help restore ties with Washington and push through arms import deals that were canceled after the purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system in 2017.
In March, President Erdogan called on President Biden in a telephone conversation to lift all "unfair" sanctions against the Turkish defense industry. Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 provoked the country's withdrawal from the program of the flagship fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets of the United States and the subsequent introduction of economic sanctions by Washington.
The notification sent to Congress asks lawmakers to approve the sale of missile weapons, radio-electronic stations and electronics for Turkish Air Force fighter jets. The deal, which includes the purchase of AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 Amraam missiles, will cost Turkey more than $ 400 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, the first to report on the request. The Biden administration is expected to send a separate request to Congress for the sale of 40 new F-16s to Turkey, as well as the modernization of existing fighter jets after Ankara's appeal last year.
There are also clear signals that the White House insists on a larger sale, as it hopes to strengthen relations with Ankara in the context of the special operation of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine. In March 2022, the Biden administration told Congress that the sale of new F-16 fighter jets would serve the interests of US national security and the long-term unity of NATO.
It should be noted that Ankara began to raise this issue in September 2021. Then Turkey informed Washington that it wanted to purchase 40 new F-16s and 80 upgrade kits for its existing fleet of aircraft. Ankara once ordered more than 100 F-35s from the United States, but was excluded from the program in 2019 after acquiring Russian S-400s. The Turkish defense industry came under US sanctions in December 2020.
TURKISH F-16S DURING EXERCISES
According to the annual bulletin with a review of the military capabilities of the countries of the world Military Balance 2022 of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (Great Britain), Turkey is armed with about 250 F-16s, which began to purchase in the 1980s, when it was an ally of the United States in the Cold War. This made it the third largest operator of this type of fighter in the world, second only to the United States and Israel themselves.
In September 2021, Turkey sent four of its F-16s to participate in joint NATO operations in Poland. In the summer of the same year, Turkish pilots conducted exercises with their alliance partners in the Black Sea, a region that has become a hot spot in rivalry with Russia (Turkey called for an increased NATO presence here).
Earlier, military experts assumed that Turkey's acquisition of kits for the modernization of its old aircraft would be a more acceptable option for the US Congress than its acquisition of new aircraft.
In addition to the Ukrainian dossier, there is another nuance here. The sale of components for the F-16 will block Ankara's attempts to create its own analogue – which means it will keep it in the orbit of the American military-industrial complex.
However, the Turks are not limited to cooperation only with the United States in the aerospace field. The press previously reported that the Turkish Air Force intends to conduct joint exercises with Qatari pilots on French–made Dassault Rafale fighters - as part of countering the potential threat from the Greek Air Force, which has increased its combat capabilities with the help of recently acquired Rafale fighters.
According to the documents of the Turkish parliamentary committee, one of the reasons why Turkey seeks to conduct joint combat training with Qatar is the desire to get a full understanding of the combat capabilities of the Rafale fighter. The agreement signed by the Chiefs of Staff of both countries in March 2021 allows for the temporary deployment of up to 36 Qatari military aircraft and up to 250 personnel in Turkey.
According to Ankara, such a set of measures will help the Turkish Armed Forces to repel the alleged threat posed by the Greek Air Force in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas.
GREEK BALANCE SHEET
One of the leading reasons for the purchase of fighter jets in the United States for Turkey was the growing military power of its neighbor, Greece.
Turkish Presidential adviser on security and foreign Policy Mesut Hakki Kashin said that the balance of power between Turkey and Greece has changed after the West provided military assistance to Athens. According to him, the work of the Turkish military has become much more complicated since then.
As a retired Air Force officer, Kashin also noted that air superiority passed to Greece after the acquisition of a batch of new fighters. It is noteworthy that this statement by Kashin, who often belittles Greece in his public statements, also contradicts Ankara's long-standing assertion that the Turkish Armed Forces are many times superior to the Greek ones.
Kashin also drew attention to Israel's training of the Greek Air Force at the Kalamata Airbase. "It is not yet clear what Turkey can do against the attack of the Greek army, ready to invade Thrace and the Aegean Sea," the adviser added.
Criticizing the joint military exercises between Greece and the United States in the Aegean Sea last November, Kashin drew attention to the fact that the event was held with much more personnel and ships than necessary, and that this is not a good omen for Turkey.
In January 2021, Athens acquired 18 French Rafale fighters, 12 of which were delivered out of stock. The contract value was 2.5 billion euros. In September 2021, six more aircraft were added to the order, bringing their total number to 24. Turkey is concerned that it may lose its influence in the airspace – especially after it was excluded from the joint program for the creation of the American F-35 strike fighter.
AMERICAN INTRIGUES
Reaching an agreement with the Joseph Biden administration is just part of a complex process. Since the sale described above may also be blocked by Congress, which has been increasingly negative towards Turkey in recent years.
Back in September 2021, a group of bipartisan lawmakers led by Republican Gus Bilirakis and Democrats Chris Pappas and Carolyn Maloney circulated a letter on Capitol Hill calling on the US State Department to oppose the sale and modernization of the F-16 Turkish Air Force.
Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is an ardent opponent of Ankara's S-400 deal with Russia and criticizes the Turkish government on human rights issues. Last year, Republican and Democratic lawmakers from the pro-Athens "Greek Caucus" also objected to new sales of weapons and military equipment to Turkey in letters to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
OWN DIFFICULTIES
But there are also more harmful factors. In addition to the fact that Turkey does not have the opportunity to freely purchase new-generation fighters, the country is going through hard times in terms of the loss of qualification of aviator personnel. Erdogan's government has dealt a significant blow to the Turkish Air Force, carrying out a mass purge among several hundred pilots and thousands of ground specialists after a controversial coup attempt in 2016.
In fairness, we note that the Turkish Air Force suffered the first blow even earlier – as a result of the 2012 bill, which facilitated the procedure for dismissing Air Force pilots who decided to go into the private aviation industry. The General Staff had to put pressure on Erdogan to cancel the bill, and in 2014 they managed to get an amendment to slow down the depletion of Turkish Air Force personnel.
Nevertheless, at that time the damage was already tangible. The unexpected purge that took place in the summer of 2016 further worsened the overall situation in the Turkish Air Force, leaving many combat aircraft without qualified pilots.
Vasily Ivanov
Vasily Ivanovich Ivanov is a journalist.