Turkey to buy 52 Super Mushshak training aircraft from Pakistan
Pakistan, Turkey signed memorandum of understanding in the field of defence industry elevates strategic partnership to a new level.
According to a message received from Pakistan embassy in Ankara, the agreements signed in Istanbul in the presence of Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer Hussain and Turkish Minister for National Defence Fikri Isik on the sidelines of 13th International Defence Industry Fair 2017.
Under the agreements, Pakistan will sell 52 Super Mushshak trainer aircraft to Turkey. The two countries signed a Letter of Intent on the four corvettes project.
Officials of Turkey and Pakistan signed the agreement on the sidelines of the IDEAS 2016. The agreement will cost more than $50 million, over the next three years.
The aircrafts are scheduled to be delivered in three phases. The first phase will be delivered in 2017, the second in 2018 while the last batch will be delivered in 2019.
The aircraft are set to replace the Turkish Air Force’s aging T-41D Mescalero and SF-260D trainers.
The Super Mushshak is a PAC licence-built version of the Saab MFI-17 Supporter aircraft. Around 46 of these trainers are currently in service with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), with the first ones being commissioned in the year 2000, according to Jane’s World Air Forces.
In addition to the PAF, the aircraft has been acquired by the air forces of Iran, Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria.
In 2015, officials of Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence announced that Turkey had donated 34 of its Cessna T-37 trainers to the PAF in a move that strengthened defence relations between the two countries.