Turkiye may reduce purchases of F-16s from United States

Turkiye may reduce its purchase of American F-16 fighter jets due to the development of its own national combat aircraft KAAN project, Azernews reports, citing the Milliyet newspaper.

How strong the reduction might be is not specified.

Earlier, Ankara requested from Washington 40 new F-16 Block-70 and the modernization of 79 existing fighters.

Turkiye has wanted to buy F-16s from the United States since 2021. Once acquired, it is planned to retire older F-4 Phantom fighters. In February, the US Congress approved the sale of 40 F-16 fighter jets to Turkiye.