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I don’t think I was being optimistic in my post as the operative word there is freely .
Don’t underestimate financial deals Turkey can muster and pull out of the bag when push comes to shove. We were prepared to do a similar deal with Pakistani T-129 sale, had it not been hampered by the US due to engines predicament.
As mentioned in my above post, we need to play it right with respect to engines when it comes to armed planes. There won’t be many engine manufacturers that will not be restricted in selling engines by their governments, when it comes to armed planes. If we can manage to sell the plane to NATO countries or to western US-allies, then there can be possibility of sale. But that will restrict the playing field tremendously.
Only feasible alternative is an indigenous engine. And that is a far fetched optimism at this stage, for short to mid term anyway.
Turkish airforce needs to replace all its T-38 trainer fleet. There are 68 of them currently in our inventory. Plus there are 12 NF-5 planes for the acrobatic team. That makes 80 planes. With spares and extras for growth of the fleet, we need close to a hundred planes outright. Hence the order for 100 units of F-404 engines.
If we are to weaponise the planes and use them as light fighters; then we may need at least 2 to 3 squadrons. Especially a good number being in twin seated format to manage drones. Then we should consider F414 for an engine and ask Brazil’s Akaer to do what they did for Gripen-E. By tweaking the airframe and using a more powerful engine we could create a real mini monster of a plane that, in effect, could pave the way for a carrier based fighter in the years to come, whence navalised.
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50 sorties flying,
April 
