National Interest cited the real reason for Turkey's purchase of the S-400

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The dismissal of a large number of qualified pilots of F-16 multipurpose fighters after the failed 2016 putsch in Ankara effectively beheaded the Turkish Air Force - the country's sky remained defenseless against potential threats, and the Turkish authorities agreed with the Kremlin to purchase S-400 anti-missile systems. American military expert Michael Peck writes about this on the pages of the National Interest.

Training one pilot of a modern fighter costs about $ 11 million, so the experience of veterans of flying art is invaluable. However, after the failed coup attempt, Erdogan so thoroughly cleansed the country's air force of potential conspirators that there was an acute shortage of qualified combat aircraft personnel in the country.



After three hundred military pilots lost their jobs, Ankara tried to attract American instructors, but to no avail. Turkey also failed to hire appropriate specialists from Pakistan. Thus, the shortage of personnel and the decline in the combat potential of the Turkish Air Force pushed Erdogan to buy Russian systems of structures.

Militarypolitical the Turkish leadership took an asymmetric step in the form of an operative purchase from Russia of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM)

- Peck emphasized, speaking about the real reason for Ankara's purchase of Russian air defense systems.
6 comments
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  1. steelmaker
    steelmaker
    +1
    16 November 2020 18: 25
    Doesn't fit. With this explanation, even more questions arise.
    1. rotkiv04
      rotkiv04
      0
      16 November 2020 19: 10
      whether it converges or not, it doesn't matter, the important thing is that this deal will still backfire on Russia and I am convinced of this more and more by looking at how the Sultan acts and how Putin is "responding" to him.
      1. Sapsan136
        Sapsan136
        +2
        16 November 2020 22: 03
        Only Turkey will have problems spoiling relations with the Russian Federation. For the Russian Federation, the domestic S-400 in export performance is not a very serious problem, because export equipment is always worse than the original, but for Turkey, the break with the Russian Federation will turn into a problem, even if Turkey does not fight the Russian Federation. Turkey has a limited stock of missiles for the S-400, the missiles themselves need to be serviced, repaired, and even without missiles, the anti-aircraft missile system has something to break. We need spare parts, and if the Russian Federation refuses to supply them, the complex will quickly become unusable. Well, for some time the Turks will still hold out, due to technical cannibalism, when from 3 faulty installations they will make one serviceable, and then everything will go to the landfill. Of course, you can put non-condicional, non-branded spare parts, produced not knowing where and not knowing from what, more or less suitable, but `` I blinded him, from what was '', this is no longer a full-fledged technique, but rubbish of dubious possibilities ...
  2. Sergey Latyshev
    Sergey Latyshev
    0
    16 November 2020 20: 46
    Yes, bullshit explanation ...
  3. Sapsan136
    Sapsan136
    +2
    16 November 2020 21: 56
    'English scientists' are raving as always. Air Defense and Air Force are different types of troops and one does not cancel or replace the other. The Air Force does not live long without air defense.
  4. Yurets
    Yurets
    0
    17 November 2020 05: 29
    In addition, I think Erdogan decided to disclose modern Russian technologies and in the future to take this knowledge into account in the production of his drones. In addition, these technologies can be expensively shared with you and others ...!