The United States of America has blocked the supply of the 30 Turkish-madeATAK helicopters to Pakistan, as per a statement by the Press Secretary toTurkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
The move has been made as a pressure tactic to bar Turkey from buying theRussian S-400 missile system, Ibrahim Kalin said, adding that the tender islikely to go to China.
He explained,
The United States has blocked our planned sale of combat helicopters toPakistan. This will likely lead to the fact that the tender in questionwill go to China, and the losers will be the United States.
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Kalin revealed that Turkey had bought the Russian S-400 because America hadrefused to supply Patriot air defense systems to Ankara on favorable terms.
Pakistan and Turkey had signed an agreement for the supply of 30 ATAKhelicopters in 2018. Amounting to nearly $1.5 billion, this contract wasthe largest one-time supply defense deal in the history of Turkey.——————————
However, the Congress’ move to block the supply of American weapons toTurkey in order to force it to pull out of the S-400 deal with Russia hasdelayed the implementation of the contract as ATAK helicopters use 800-4Aengines manufactured by the American company LHTEC.
As a counter move, Turkey has announced that it will develop its ownhelicopter engines, and has decided to continue the S-400 purchase fromRussia.