LightningZ71 wrote:It depends on how much they want to be dependent on US export restrictions. I suspect that they will still try to get an engine free of US restrictions at some point.
I think you are missing the main point here.
F110 is a very good engine with excelent track report. Turkey is capable of manufacturing it under license at TEI facilities locally. F110’s performance is good enough for MMU (TFX) performance requirements. F110’s designer GE has very good relations in Turkey and owns minority stake at TEI (TUSAS Engine Ind.). TuAF Maintenance Teams are expert in F110 and keep F16s at very good readiness level. So, is not F110 perfect for MMU?
No it is not!
MMU is supposed to be a 5th gen fighter. F110 is an old design and can not fulfill radar & IR signature requirements for a 5th gen fighter. So using F110 for prototypes and flight tests makes sense, but for serial production it is no good if MMU has to be a 5th gen fighter.
As supply of F135 is out of question for MMU, only option left for Turkey is to develop its own engine.
art wrote:keeping US content out of TF-X should be a goal to allow shipment to countries of which US disapproves. Indeed, the invitation to companies to help Turkiye to develop an engine of the class needed for TF-X stipulates that no export controls should be imposed on Turkiye
I disagree. MMU will be a strategic asset. You can sell TB2 easily as its competion peers are easily available from China or else where. But you can not do the same for MMU. I’m sure that there will be a discussion mechanism between Turkey and its NATO Partners for such sales.