It is hilarious to me that I still see the same discussion and arguments about this plane after almost a decade not to mention the discussion particular to Türkiye-F35.
On one side you have those who love to act as if the F-35 is a trashcan and useless, which of course is not true, and on the other side you have those who act as if you can conquer another country with just 12 of them, which is also of course is not true.
Both sides don't recognize how ridiculous they are being. Especially those who make arguments plainly on their political stance.
First of all you can't focus on the plane and make your arguments based on that.
Context matters.
And the context for us is this. Our Air Force is aging, it is capability wise behind some of its neighbors. And this is the consequence of betting all you have on one horse long-term, i.e. the F-35 project. The first mistake here was not to diversify your options by agreeing to the deal offered to you over a decade ago to become a partner in the Eurofighter project.
The second mistake was going on a dumb , yes dumb you can argue about it as much as you like the signs are clear here, buying spree for the S-400 just to get kicked out of a project you have been a partner in since the start, a project you have pretty much planned the future of your Air Force around, a project which over its lifetime would have netted you Billions of dollars in revenue.
I'm not going to accept the words of the MoD btw you can post it here as often as you want, nor I will I take anyone serious no matter its political stance who says the clear cut lies of " We didn't want it cause it is broke", get out of here, is that why you send pilots to train in the US on your planes? Is that why you didn't just cancel your orders? Why pay the first payment for the first 24 planes?
Things like that just make you stoop low and lose your integrity. Easy as that.
You exchanged your then future plans for the Air Force for a tin can that can't even do its job in the Russian Army, where it its btw connect to a network and should do a job 10x times better it would for you. Yet Ukraine regulary bombs Crimea, regulary attacks the Russian Navy.
Saying things like " We will take it out of storage if we need it" is just hilarious. You will never know when you will need it, by the time you take it out it will be already be too late. They can make any excuses they want, the S-400 is rotting away in a storage warehouse somewhere secret cause the TSK does not want it and was not impressed by it. It was a purely political purchase driven by the Government thinking it could show the US the middle finger and they would not react, it was also a election move. Why are there no exercises being done with it? Is it because 1. the Army does not want it 2. You are scared of the consequences if you use it again and 3. You can't replace the missiles cause any other purchase from Russia will lead to more sanctions which you can't afford anymore.
Having the F-35 right now would not only have alleviated the symptomes our Air Force is suffering but would have added a lot of to the MMU project. I already mentioned the financial aspect. Or have you all forgotten that Türkiye was to be the MRO station for the F-35 fleet in Europe? Do you even understand the things you have lost? Do you understand the know-how our companies could have continued gaining?
The same people in the government talking down the F-35 would have praised it to the heavens if we were still in the project and how good of a job the government did joining the project and procuring the jet and how it will help our industry and bring in billions.
As much as we all hope for MMU to continue fast and without any problems the likelyhood is that it won't enter inventory and service until the 2030s. And even if our engineers did the impossible and made it serial production worthy in 4 years, you are still bound to the US due to the need for its engines.
So tell me what exactly did you gain by getting kicked out of the project? Cause all I hear is how getting kicked out saved us from a broken jet, which we all know especially those who make that argument is plainly a lie.
If it was so broken the Air Force and Government especially could have stopped ordering any new jets after the initial 24 F-35.
Neither is the F-35 a miracle jet. Greece buying 12-24 of them, still waiting for that contract according to our "experts" it was supposed to get signed 3 years ago, won't change anything in the long-term. Wars aren't just fought in the sky, according to that logic Russia should have won its war in a week.
I also don't buys this shit that Biden isn't on purpose sending the notification for the sale to Greece because Türkiye needs to first get its F-16 Block 70 sales. Biden loves Greece, there are other reasons for this, my theory being Greece not having the financial means to actually get the sale through. Under Trump both LM and the then Ambassador to Greece mentioned them first paying of their F-16V modernization before thinking about asking to buy the F-35. In the then Ambassador's words "Beggars can't be chosers".
How about we look at things with neutrals eyes and don't let us get distraced by your fanboying of politicians or political parties.
Not getting the F-35 won't be the end of the world, but getting it would have solved a lot of problems we are currently facing. And what makes this hurt the most is that we lost the F-35 in exchange for a tin can that even fails to do its proper job in the Army where it should especially excel.
And no I won't answer to people quoting government officials to me nor those who talk about conspiracy theories "The planes get switched off with one button". Okay.
Just like with the F-16, Türkiye would have become the country to use those jets the best. And now we need to hope that Germany gains clarity for 5 minutes and doesn't veto our purchase of the Eurofighter.
Cascading problems 5-6 years later for a tin can that we don't even use. Incredible.
Also pointing out mistakes and wrong doings doesn't make you "traitor" as much as some people love to act as if it does, no it actually helps make you stronger.