ZHUKOVSKY, August 27. /TASS/. Turkey is interested in joint military production with Russia, including production of fighter jets, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Tuesday on the outcomes of the talks with his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the 2019 MAKS Air Show.
"One of the key steps in the relations with Russia is joint production [of S-400 missile defense systems], there have been a lot of rumors about this, we haven’t paid them any attention," he said. "We would like to apply our solidarity in this area in other spheres of defense industry. This might also apply to military aircrafts."
Erdogan noted that currently, preparations for the delivery of the second batch of S-400 are taking place, along with personnel training. "The most important thing is that we maintain the atmosphere of solidarity in this area, applying it to missiles and other areas of the defense industry. We have agreed [during the talks] on what we can do, and we will start working fast," the Turkish leader concluded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters on the outcomes of the talks with Erdogan that they had discussed joint production of Russian military equipment. "We have discussed cooperation on Su-35 and even possible work on the new Su-57 jet," the Russian leader noted. "We have many opportunities; we have demonstrated new weapon systems and new electronic warfare systems."
In September 2017, Russia informed of a contract signed with Turkey on the purchase of Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems to the tune of $2.5 bln. The contract includes partial disclosure of production technology to the Turkish side. The first batch of S-400 was delivered to Turkey from July 12 to July 25.