Turkey is upping its initial F-35 buy from two airframes to six, the country’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced earlier this week. “It is planned that Turkey will buy 100 F-35 warplanes in the project,” Davatoglu said, quoted by Reuters on Jan. 7. “We previously ordered two in this framework. We have now decided to order four more,” he said following a defense procurement meeting on Wednesday. The Turkish air force’s first batch of F-35As were planned as part of low-rate initial production Lot 10, which would be delivered in 2015. Turkey is one of the nine Joint Strike Fighter program partners, and was recently designated the European-region’s heavy engine maintenance pole for multi-national F-35 operators, including the Air Force. Turkey’s planned F-35A buy is estimated to be approximately a $16 billion investment.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
