StormBreaker
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2019
- Messages
- 5,448
- Reaction score
- 16
- Country
- Location
Amid rising tensions with the United States, Turkey has reportedly begun to reconsider propositions to acquire Raytheon Patriot surface to air missile systems. Tensions have emerged since mid-2017 over Turkish plans to purchase Russian S-400 long range hypersonic air defence systems, but disputes have also arisen over a number of other issues including Turkish military operations on Syrian territory. Turkey has thus been threatened with sanctions under the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), alongside Indonesia, China, Egypt, India, Iraq, and a number of other states, which targets major clients for modern Russian weapons systems. While only China has been targeted so far, sanctioned in 2018 over its orders for two S-400 battalions and two dozen Su-35 fighters four years prior, sanctions could have detrimental effects on the economies of any of the states threatened.
With the Donald Trump administration placing a particularly heavy emphasis on the importance of boosting arms sales overseas, a number of analysts have speculated that states threatened by CAATSA may be able to avoid sanctions by making large purchases of American weapons systems - providing much needed revenues to the country’s defence sector. Indeed, it was previously hinted that India could avoid sanctions by selecting the Lockheed Martin F-16IN or F-21fighter as the winner of its MMRCA tender for new fighter jets - which would lead Washington to overlook its large orders for Russian arms. Turkey for its part has proposed a contract to acquire Patriot missile batteries, with Ankara’s interest announced by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu at the Doha Forum in Qatar.
The Patriot has a vert similar role to the S-400, and was previously overlooked in Turkish tenders for new missile defence systems due to its more limited capabilities relative to its foreign counterparts. The platform lacks access to hypersonic missiles, and while the S-400 is capable of deploying over half a dozen missile types some with double the Patriot’s range and speed, the America system can only deploy a single type of missile. The Patriot’s sensors, versatility, mobility, lack of a cold launch system and the number of targets it can simultaneously engage are among its other significant disadvantages relative to the S-400, while the platform’s cost is approximately triple that of its Russian counterpart. This has led a number of analysts to conclude that Ankara’s interest stems solely from its desire to avoid American sanctions rather than any military capability the Patriot could provide Turkey’s armed forces.
With the Donald Trump administration placing a particularly heavy emphasis on the importance of boosting arms sales overseas, a number of analysts have speculated that states threatened by CAATSA may be able to avoid sanctions by making large purchases of American weapons systems - providing much needed revenues to the country’s defence sector. Indeed, it was previously hinted that India could avoid sanctions by selecting the Lockheed Martin F-16IN or F-21fighter as the winner of its MMRCA tender for new fighter jets - which would lead Washington to overlook its large orders for Russian arms. Turkey for its part has proposed a contract to acquire Patriot missile batteries, with Ankara’s interest announced by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu at the Doha Forum in Qatar.
The Patriot has a vert similar role to the S-400, and was previously overlooked in Turkish tenders for new missile defence systems due to its more limited capabilities relative to its foreign counterparts. The platform lacks access to hypersonic missiles, and while the S-400 is capable of deploying over half a dozen missile types some with double the Patriot’s range and speed, the America system can only deploy a single type of missile. The Patriot’s sensors, versatility, mobility, lack of a cold launch system and the number of targets it can simultaneously engage are among its other significant disadvantages relative to the S-400, while the platform’s cost is approximately triple that of its Russian counterpart. This has led a number of analysts to conclude that Ankara’s interest stems solely from its desire to avoid American sanctions rather than any military capability the Patriot could provide Turkey’s armed forces.
