Turkish Air Force Paralyzed Since Post-Coup Crack Down- Report

After the failed coup attempt in 2016, the Turkish government cracked down on the country's military, especially the Air Force, to the point where Turkey cannot fly its F-16s.

In the summer of 2016,  Erdoğan started cracking down both secular and military personnel linked to the Gülen opposition movement.

According to the U.S. Air Force estimates, training a new pilot to fly a F-35 costs $11 million, in addition to priceless years of experience.

The Turkish government represented in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has hurt its air force so badly, after throwing them in jail. Not only that, Turkey has wasted a large sum of money by getting rid of those elite and valuable resources, which could not be replaced at the moment, adding to that the number of new retiree.

According to latest estimates, 251 Turkish pilots are also retiring under the 2012 law, which shortened the service to 13 years. The purge of hundreds of pilots in 2016, made it clear that many Turkish warplanes are grounded without any pilots to fly them.

With more than 300 hundred pilots dismissed, the Turkish government started searching overseas for experienced pilots, yet, the U.S. declined its request to send over flight instructors, in addtion to Pakistani assistance program, which did not work out.

In 2017 and after many failed attempts to train new pilots, the government issued a decree forcing 330 former pilots to return to the Turkish air force by threatening them with the revocation of their civil pilot licenses.

In 2017, after many failed attempts to train new pilots, the government issued a decision compelling 330 former pilots to return to the Turkish Air Force by threatening to revoke their pilot licenses.

The weak Turkish air force and the scarcity of pilots were the main reasons behind Turkey's sudden interest in obtaining Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems despite sanctions imposed by Washington.

Ankara also signed an agreement with Eurosam, a French-Italian missile manufacturer, to develop a long-range anti-aircraft missile to fill the gap of its air forces.

According to these estimates, the Turkish Air Force will not be able to comply with its obligations related to the protection of its airspace, and will not be able to send pilots for its warplanes to complete its obligations abroad, especially in Libya.