ANKARA — A military equipment trade deal between Russia and Turkey ended in tragedy after Turkey delivered several air-to-air missiles directly to a Russian warplane causing a sudden explosion near the Syrian-Turkish border.
Two Turkish F-16 were sent on a friendly mission to deliver twelve AIM-120 advanced missiles to Russia in exchange for a Su-24 attack aircraft, when the pilots decided to speed up the transaction by firing them at speeds of Mach 4 in the plane’s general direction.
“Our intentions were peaceful,” explained Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “I’m sure the pilots didn’t want to start a major international incident or worse, a conflict with a nuclear-armed power capable of flattening Istanbul in a matter of seconds. That would be very stupid of us.”
“Very stupid.”
The manufacturers of the high-explosive blast fragmentation missiles, Raytheon, were shocked to hear that their product would be used for such purposes.
“Safety is our number one concern,” explained Raytheon CEO Thomas A. Kennedy. “The military industrial complex runs by strict adherence to worker’s safety.”
According to sources, Russia accepted Turkey’s explanation since Russia made a similar excuse when it made a trade deal with Malaysia Airlines.
