Media: U.S. plans to supply Turkey with fighter jet engines for $700 million

The American administration plans to initiate a deal to supply Turkey with fighter jet engines worth $700 million.

This was reported by Reuters, citing a corresponding notification to Congress.

According to the agency, the deal involves several dozen engines. The legislative body now has 15 days to block the transaction if it disagrees with these plans.

The supply of engines, the agency writes, "will serve as an important gesture toward Ankara ahead of the NATO summit," which will be held there in early July. As Reuters notes, the engines in question are from General Electric for Turkey's fifth-generation Kaan fighter jets under development: they represent Turkey's alternative to American F-35 fighters after Ankara was excluded from that program.

The Kaan fighter has been under development in Turkey since 2017 as part of the "National Combat Aircraft" program. Serial production is scheduled to begin in 2028. Turkish authorities have previously stated that the Kaan will surpass the American F-35 in tactical and technical characteristics and will eventually replace the F-16 fighters in service with the republic's air force.

In 2017, Turkey purchased four S-400 air defense systems from Russia worth $2.5 billion. In October 2019, the company Rosoboronexport (part of the state corporation Rostec) reported that the contract for the delivery of the systems had been fulfilled. After the conclusion of the contract between Turkey and Russia for the supply of a regimental set of S-400, Ankara was excluded from the U.S. program to develop the new-generation F-35 fighter jets.