A Turkish former minister has come up with a fresh proposal that sees Turkey getting rid of its unused Russian-built S-400 Triumf air defense missile systems in such a way that will not strain its relations with Moscow.
Cavit Caglar, businessman and politician, suggested that Turkey could sell these systems to friendly relations countries with Russia, such as Pakistan or India, after providing an interview for T24 newspaper in Turkey.
Since the delivery of the S-400s five years ago, they have been left unused.
“If it were me, I would sell the S-400s,” Caglar declared, underlining that there are customers prepared to buy. He pointed to Pakistan and India as potential buyers.
Selling the S-400 would probably ease Turkey’s way toward obtaining new, modern F-16s and readmitting it in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program from which it was thrown out in 2019 after the contentious purchase of the S-400s.
The U.S. Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland hinted in January that Turkey would be allowed to reenter the F-35 program if it resolves the S-400 issue.
Caglar, who was key to mending Turkey-Russia ties after Ankara shot down a Russian bomber in 2015, thinks Moscow would “excuse us” if Turkey sold the S-400s.
His proposing India and Pakistan as options over Azerbaijan, which is a big importer of Turkish military hardware, is also noteworthy. Ankara is very close militarily to Islamabad and has hosted joint military maneuvers with Islamabad.
India, in contrast, has been taking deliveries of S-400s and has placed the orders in 2019. In contrast with the NATO member, Turkey, New Delhi hasn’t faced U.S. sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) because of this procurement.
It remains unclear if New Delhi will face CAATSA sanctions in the future in case she makes another big deal on advanced Russian armaments. A good way out of the sanctions looming over India is to buy S-400s from Turkey if Ankara offers them at a cheaper price.
Given how close Islamabad and Ankara are, a sale to Pakistan also seems more plausible. Pakistan was seeking to purchase S-400s in the late 2010s.
Purchasing Triumfs from Turkey would enable the Pakistani military to familiarize itself with the system and train against it, which would prove incredibly useful given that the S-400 is its arch-nemesis India’s top system.
Turkish officials have repeatedly rejected proposals to transfer the systems to Ukraine or sell them. One U.S. senator even proposed in 2020 that Washington buy Turkey’s S-400s.
While rejecting the idea of getting rid of the S-400, Turkey has declared its Indigenous high-altitude Sniper system a capable rival of the Russian Triumf. Ankara will create a national multilayered air defense called Steel Dome that is expected to be composed of Siper supplemented by other Turkish-made medium and short-range systems.
Indian S-400s will form the top tier of its developing multileveled air defenses, while other tiers will be covered by the Israeli-Indian Barak 8 and India’s indigenous medium-range Akash. The Steel Dome in the case of Turkey will be made of domestic systems, mainly, if not entirely. It is not clear whether the S-400 will have anything to do with the Steel Dome initiative, which suggests that Ankara might want to maintain it in storage or a nonintegrated stand-alone system.
On the other hand, if Turkey does successfully stand up the Steel Dome it will only serve to reinforce how little Turkey needs the S-400. Selling to a third country in such a way that it would not alienate Russia could become increasingly enticing for Turkey.
And although, now that it’s set its sights on developing the indigenous TF Kaan fighter, Ankara would no longer be looking for F-35s for its air force, Ankara could enjoy once again going into production on parts for that stealth jet. All these things taken into account, now Caglar’s innovative suggestion could become a reality shortly.