US Congress Ensures With CAATSA 231 That It Continues
Russia steals US jobs every time it makes a sale to Turkey. Lately, it sold a big platform and made a killing. It was able to do so only because the US did not want to sell its own version. Russia has been doing it since the 1950s during the Cold War. Then, it was an iron and steel plant. Now it is a sophisticated defensive missile system. The US did not want to sell either one of them. Russia sold them instead. As if that was not enough, the US Congress also passed recently a punitive CAATSA 231 against Turkey, reacting to the latest sale.
Q – How does passing CAATSA 231 against Turkey help create new US jobs now?
A – It does not.
Q – Does passing punitive legislation against Turkey hurt other potential US jobs that have nothing to do with CAATSA 231?
A – Yes. Big time!
Q – Does anyone in America understand that passing CAATSA 231 not only makes Russia steal US jobs now but also in the future?
A – No.
The US does not sell Patriots:
Russia Steals US Jobs
New Turkey recently tested S-400 defensive batteries, three years after it took delivery from Russia. New Turkey could have bought Patriots made in the USA instead, long before that. Obama Administration elected not to sell them. The logic escapes lots of people at this time, but here is the tally of this no-sale.
One, Russia made billions of dollars from the sale. Now it is poised to sell more batteries and make more billions.
Two, Russia sold it with the transfer of technology and know-how, allowing New Turkey to complement its indigenous version “Siper” which is under development. Siper is expected to become a better version of what Russia sold and for a cheaper price. That is sure to steal more US jobs elsewhere too, making it competitive against the Patriots.
The US Congress passes punitive legislation:
Russia Steals US Jobs, even more
Recently, the US Congress passed punitive legislation, called CAATSA 231 against Turkey, to prevent any other country from buying the same from Russia.
See below how no one understands this arithmetic!
First, New Turkey will no longer buy Patriots from the US even if it comes with all the bells and whistles. Until this legislation passed, it was still willing to buy the US-made batteries alongside Russia made S-400s. Now, it may buy additional S-400 batteries but also enter into co-production of the newly developed and deadlier S-500s with Russia.
Second, New Turkey is now more likely to buy SU-35 fighter aircraft from Russia to raise the ante even further. What is worse, co-production of Russia developed SU-57 or New Turkey developed indigenous TFX may now also come into play. Either one surely will take up markets from the US F-35 that is the dominant and only available aircraft in the fifth generation category for many client states.
Donald J. Trump to stop this madness
The US Congress objects and exacerbates
President Trump and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey began a close relationship at the end of 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Osaka, Japan, in 2019, President Trump acknowledged the problem between two long-time allies by publicly saying: “It is Obama!”
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Summarily, if Obama had allowed the sale of the Patriots, New Turkey would not have bought the S-400s. New Turkey would have also already started to receive the delivery of the F-35 fighter aircraft. It was going to be a win-win for America, instead, now it became lose-lose-lose-lose. Russia and Turkey, in addition to S-500 and Siper, would not have entered into full-speed production of SU-57 and/or TFX.
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President Trump tried to prevent the passage of CAATSA 231 against Turkey. Any US president would have tried the same in the face of ill-advised voting of the US Congress. After all, they were simply killing US jobs, no matter what the excuse of each one of the US Senators was for voting for the bill. Their job had to be for the greater good of the USA instead of their reelection campaign or ideologies they adhere to.
Since the bill passed with a two-thirds majority, President Trump had no choice but to sign it into law. He was also required to apply five of the recommendations in the bill. With that, the probability of the future sales of any big platforms to New Turkey also evaporated, having killed the goodwill between the two countries.
But worse yet to come
New Turkey does not only buy but also develops and produces one kind of technology. F-35 is only one of many major military platforms that are in jeopardy. Currently, New Turkey has indigenously built warships, missiles, tanks, drones, microsatellites and delivery systems. It is also well advanced in electromagnetic, rail, and laser gun technologies. Many other advances are yet to be announced.
Meltem III, Hava Soj, Cafrad, Advent, Kemet, Ufuk, Koral I, Koral II, Karakulak are not concepts. Each is one aspect of a specifically developed, at the latest stages of completion, sophisticated, and cohesive electronic warfare system. Together, they form the foundation of the unmanned armed forces of New Turkey. They are only proceeding with the intelligent ordinances and missiles that have already displayed their worth on the battlefields of Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan.
Most now are in the process of mass production. Soon, they will be available in the inventory of New Turkey armed forces, but also in the international markets. They will be cheaper but better with proven track records because of real-time testing in the ongoing wars.
The US products are sure to get hit first and hard because they are the dominant and currently available alternatives in the battlegrounds. Over time they are sure to become obsolete since progress is taking place more and more elsewhere in other countries. That naturally translates into a loss of immediate and future US jobs as well.
Trillion Dollar F-35 Project To Go Bust
In 2018, New Turkey came up with a mock-up version of a fifth-generation fighter craft called TFX. The prototype, reportedly, will be displayed in 2023 and it will be flying by around 2025. It will surely put an end to the misery of F-35: It is known to have never-ending problems to date since the project began in the early 2000s. Already more than 1000 of these F-35s supposed to have been sold. The number is nowhere near and maintenance cost and time are prohibitive, according to reports.
One of the bigger problems it is facing is the purchase price. Nearly 150 million dollars is too expensive for anyone, especially when TFX may go for half the price. The second problem is even more complex to decipher. New Turkey was the second-biggest client of these aircraft. Since more of it sold was going to bring the price down, losing a major customer is a blow.
New Turkey is also one of the main developers and manufacturers of aircraft. It produces nearly 1000 different pieces that go in each one of F-35. Some of them are one of a kind technologies indigenously developed, controlled, and produced by New Turkey. Replacing them are sometimes not possible.
Replacing New Turkey as the provider may also make F-35 less sophisticated, never mind supply options and maintenance time going out of control with these changes. Price per aircraft is also said to go up by another 10 million dollars because mass production in Turkey is making it cheaper.
Russia knows best: Steals US jobs all the time
Russia, already capitalized well, on the latest Patriot/S-400 fiasco. Now it stands to gain from the F-35 controversy. Since the US already stopped the sale of F-35 to New Turkey before CAATSA 231 mess, SU-35 or SU-57 by Russia come into play. In the interim, until TFX is mass-produced, New Turkey may buy some from Russia as well as enter into co-production of these fifth-generation aircrafts.
Russia in the 1950s had again capitalized on the fortune of the US when it sold iron and steel plants that the US refused. The US also refused the sale of nuclear plants to Turkey. Russia currently has a 22 billion dollar contract, building a nuclear plant in Turkey.
Soon to be completed project is a sure bet for Russia to get another of the same. New Turkey plans to build additional ones. China, Japan, France are competing. They are at various stages of negotiations or developments.
Made in the USA?
The last vestige of a US company that operates in the nuclear energy field is currently a subsidiary of a Chinese company. It has a good chance to win a contract in New Turkey but not with the US Congress and its punitive bills causing havoc in Wash DC. Russia may very well be the beneficiary again, stealing more US jobs.