(Bloomberg) — Turkey has asked the US for permission to obtain GE Aerospace engines that it hopes to use in locally-made military jets, according to Turkish officials familiar with the matter.
Ankara is seeking F404 engines for its program to build training aircraft, according to the officials. The request is critical for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to achieve his aim of modernizing Turkey’s air force and building up the NATO member’s defense industry. If the US approves, it will be another signal that years of tension following Turkey’s decision to buy a Russian air-defense system is easing.
Turkey’s military wants to replace its aging Northrop Grumman Corp. fleet of T-38s and F-5s with the homemade Hurjet, which the GE Aerospace engines would power, the people said.
“We look forward to further deepening our defense partnership with Turkey, a key NATO ally,” an official from the US Embassy in Ankara said in response to questions from Bloomberg. They would not comment on specific matters between GE Aerospace and Turkey.
Erdogan is working to bolster ties with the US. Relations were severely strained when Turkey opted to acquire Russia’s S-400 air-defense system. That led, in 2019, to Washington blocking Ankara from being able to acquire F-35 jets, considered to be among the world’s most advanced fighter planes.
Ties improved in early 2024 when Turkey ratified Sweden’s bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, something Russia opposed and which the US and European states wanted following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Still, Erdogan is keen to retain a strong relationship Russian President Vladimir Putin and build alliances beyond the West, including with China. It is formally seeking to join the BRICS group of emerging-market nations, becoming the first NATO member to make such a move.
Erdogan is set to be in New York later this month to address the United Nations General Assembly and is expected to meet US officials and businesses.
As part of the plans to upgrade its air force, Turkey is also seeking GE Aerospace F110 engines to use for its Kaan fighter jet project. And it’s urging Germany to allow it to buy Eurofighter jets.
Ankara is scaling back a $23 billion defense contract with the US to purchase F-16 fighter jets and upgrade some of its existing ones. But it is aiming for an offset agreement that would allow it to make some warplane parts locally.
GE Aerospace is based in Cincinnati and the world’s largest maker of jet engines. It has a joint venture with state-owned Turkish Aerospace called TUSAS Engine Industries Inc., or TEI.
They are aiming to use TEI “for maintenance, repair and overhaul of F404 engines in addition to assembly, inspection, and testing in Turkey,” a GE Aerospace spokesperson said to Bloomberg.
While Hurjet is designed to be a trainer aircraft, Turkey is also planning to manufacture armed versions of the jet, the officials said.
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