For me, the main problem of the F35 isnt the purchase cost of the plane or even the weaponry
The chairman of Tübitak SAGE Gürcan Okumuş announced that if the F-35s enter the inventory, it will be necessary to work with Lockheed Martin to integrate national projects.
In short, it would not be possible to use national air-to-air and air-to-land/to-sea missiles in F-35s in the event of a veiled or obvious embargo.
He also stressed that the integration of national munitions into an F-35 fighter aircraft would not be done as the issuance of source code, but rather by Lockheed Martin. Even Mr. Gürcan Okumuş pointed out that it is doubtful that American-made air-to-air missiles will work.
So if Turkey had bought the F-35s, it probably would never have had the source code. I wonder if they're still here talking about how much the F-35s are necessary for us?
This project was undoubtedly one of the projects that would ruin the future of the Turkish Air Force and end Turkey's independence. I'm very happy that the F-35 issue is closed for us.
Think about it, if the USA didnt give us the weaponry, turkey will just ditch the F35 and search for planes from russia. In fact, Turkey at that moment will have a legitimate excuse to buy Russian weapons!
The main problems with the F35 are mainly:
A) High maintenance cost. That thing sucks money fatser than a typhoon. Just look at the numbers; 3 to 4 Rafales cost the same as 1 F35 in the sky for an hour. Like wtf this thing is way too expensive in the long term
B) The USA will never give the code of altering the F35 to turkey so it is basically tons of metal in the ground
Basically, the F35 is a lost cause and many nations are reducing their orders for the plane