Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 10
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Despite several crashes of Turkish Air Force's F-4 fighters, Ankara will not discontinue their use, Hurriyet newspaper reported March 10 referring to Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc.
He said that the Turkish Air Force periodically checks the technical condition of F-4 fighters.
Arinc also said that Ankara intends to use F-4 fighters until 2020.
The two F-4 fighters crashed in the Turkish province of Konya March 5.
Turkey suspects Israel of being involved in the crash of the two F-4 fighters of the Turkish Air Forces.
The Turkish Air Force fighters, recently crashed in the province of Konya, were upgraded in Israel in 2002.
As a whole, 12 F-4 fighters have crashed in Turkey for unknown reasons since 2002.
The modernization of one fighter in Israel cost Turkey 30.4 million Turkish liras.
Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz has recently said that it is not ruled out that in the future the country will refuse from using F-4 fighters.
Fifteen air force pilots have been killed as a result of the F-4 fighter crash in Turkey since 2002 up till now.
Currently, the Turkish Air Force fleet includes 54 F-4 fighters.
The official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Turkey is 2.6094 TRY/USD as of March 10.
Edited by CN
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