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Turkey has offered Russia to jointly produce advanced S-500 air defense systems, President Recep Tayyip said on June 13 in an interview with broadcaster 24 TV.
“Russia has given us a loan for the S-400 on very reasonable terms. In the second and third stages, we will proceed to joint production. Maybe we will co-produce S-500,” Erdogan said also making critical remarks towards the NATO allies over their unwillingness to sell arms to Turkey or jointly produce them.
“I have contacted President Putin with a proposal about the joint production of the S-500.”
However, Erdogan provided no info about a Russian response on the S-500 joint production proposal.
In December 2017, Ankara officially signed a $2.5 billion agreement with Moscow on the delivery of S-400 air defense systems. Turkey will be the first NATO member country to acquire the system. According to data from the Turkish media, the country will buy two batteries of S-400 missiles which will be manned by Turkish military personnel.
Ankara has described its decision to buy S-400 systems by its growing defense needs and the unwilligness of NATO member states to sell weapons.
