A top Turkish official has confirmed that the United States has blocked Turkey's sale of 30 combat helicopters to Pakistan which could force Islamabad to buy the same from Beijing.
Turkey’s presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told the state-run Anadolu news agency that the move could prove to be more detrimental to Washington down the line.
In July 2018, Turkey's military procurement agency, known by the Turkish acronym SSB, had announced that Ankara has signed a $1.5 billion deal with Islamabad for the sale of 30 T129 ATAK helicopters – the biggest single export in the history of the Turkish defense industry.
Developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries, the ATAK T-129 is a twin-engine, tandem seat, multi-role, all-weather attack helicopter based on the Agusta A129 Mangusta platform and is equipped with American engines.
Maintaining that the blockade could “cause more harm” to US interests, Kalin said that the Pentagon refused to issue the Turkish company an export license for the engines, a decision triggered by Ankara’s decision to buy S-400 missile defence system from Russia.
The US had last December imposed a series of sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) against NATO ally Turkey's SSB agency and four senior Turkish officials.
"We hope that other countries around the world will also take note that the United States will fully implement CAATSA Section 231 sanctions and that they should avoid further acquisitions of Russian equipment, especially those that could trigger sections," Christopher Ford, the Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation in Donald Trump administration had announced.
Kalin, however, said earlier this week that Turkey could acquire the US-made Patriot missile system in addition to Russia's S-400 system.
"We believe we can have the Patriots. We can have these S-400s that will not be integrated into the NATO defense system," he told Anadolu news, rebuffing concerns that the S-400s would compromise the alliance’s defenses.
Pakistan daily Dawn reported that the US announced the first blockade in July 2019, days before a meeting between the former US president, Donald Trump, and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Washington.
"In January 2020, the head of Turkey’s Defence Industries (SSB) said that Ankara and Islamabad had extended the delivery deal by another year to ensure a smooth delivery. The agreement gives Pakistan the option to buy the Chinese Z-10 helicopters should the Turkish deal not materialize. Reports in the Turkish media said that the Turkish-built T-129 ATAK helicopter was still on the Pakistan Army shopping list," the report mentioned.
