ISLAMABAD: Turkey came out as the first NATO country that was sanctioned by the USA under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) law for purchasing Russian S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile system in 2017 which was later tested in October 2020.
Under the same law, Turkey was also prohibited to be the part of F-35 Fighter Program by the US since this purchase was made ignoring the similar American-made Raytheon’s Patriot missile system. The S-400 was considered non-compatible to the existing NATO missile system. It was also doubted that business between Turkey and Russia would expose the F-35 to the Russians.
In Light to these sanctions, the sale of 100 fifth-generation F-35 jets by the Lockheed Martin, an American arms company, was also halted. Turkey is trying to strengthen its military might due to the recent procurement of Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France, that urged Turkey to keep up in the arms race.
Pakistan being the best-positioned supplier, aided in the exchange of armed jets and Now Turkey aims to either acquire Block III JF-17 Thunder fighter jets or Chengdu J-10C semi-stealth 4.5-gen advanced multirole fighter jets that will further strengthen its military might, leaving a change to Pakistan to grow its exports.
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