Ankara Considers Buying Rafale Fighters Instead of F-16 Defense Deal that Washington Could Block

Ankara is looking to buy Dassault Rafale fighters, a 4.5++ generation fighter, because the US government could block an F-16 defense deal.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Emmanuel Macron of France discussed a plan to buy the cutting-edge French fighter.

Turkish Air Force Acquires New Aircraft

According to a press release issued by the Turkish Directorate of Communications on July 16, President Erdogan spoke with President Macron about a variety of issues, including grain exports from Ukraine and a joint defense program with France and Italy based on Eurosam's SAMP/T air-defense missile system, reported The Eurasian Times.

The Rafale combat jets were not mentioned in the official release, though. Retired Lieutenant General Dr. Erdoan Karakuş, a well-known Turkish military analyst, quickly commented on the news of the two Presidents' conversation. Discussions included the modern Dassault delta wing, noted Ahaber.

According to Karakuş, Turkey is thinking of purchasing French Rafale fighters in case the US decides to reject its request for 40 US F-16 Viper jets and 80 old-generation F-16C/D aircraft.

Although US Vice President Joe Biden supports selling the F-16 defense deal, US lawmakers are opposed to this transaction.

US Lawmakers Might Block F-16 Sale

When the House of Representatives passed legislation banning the US administration from delivering or exporting F-16s to Turkey unless the administration determines that doing so is essential to US national security, two days after the call between Erdogan and Macron, noted The Daily Sabah.

Another is taking serious measures to ensure that fighter jets are not used for unauthorized overflights of Greece.

According to Karakuş, Biden seems unable to approve the purchase due to legislative pressure and his anxiety over offending the Greek and Armenian lobbies. He added that the US president truly wants to approve the transaction.

The French jets were a possibility because the US Lower House had not approved them, which explains why. Will France be able to sell the jets without US interference? Turkey and Greece have turned to international nations for assistance to strengthen their militaries as a result of tensions between the two nations.

If the claims stated by the analyst are accurate, it would appear that France wants to gain from both sides. Six of the 24 Rafale fighter jets that France has already agreed to provide to Greece, of which there will be two, were delivered in January 2022.

According to a previous report, Turkey supposedly started to train its fighter pilots on Rafale fighter jets of the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QeAF) for Turkish fighter pilots to be acquainted with the console and its capabilities to combat the threat from the Hellenic Air Force's fleet of Rafales.

French Jet Better Than the F-16s

As opposed to the F-16s, which are 3.5-generation fighters with 4th-generation capability, Turkey would be better off obtaining the 4.5-generation Rafale fighter jets.

According to an expert responding to the EurAsian Times, the French planes possess semi-stealth technology and nuclear capacity, something Turkey's current F-16 fleet lacks.

Greece has already asked the US for a squadron of fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter jets, and Turkey may choose the Dassault Fighters. Getting the Rafale fighters would be better over the problems caused by the US F-16 defense deal; Turkey will do better without Washington.