U.S. halts F-35 equipment to Turkey, protests its plans to buy from Russia
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-turkey-f35-exclusive/u-s-halts-f-35-equipment-to-turkey-protests-its-plans-to-buy-from-russia-idUSKCN1RD316
The United States has halted delivery of equipment related to the stealthy F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey, marking the first concrete U.S. step to block delivery of the jet to the NATO ally in light of Ankara’s planned purchase of a Russian missile defense system.
“Pending an unequivocal Turkish decision to forgo delivery of the S-400, deliveries and activities associated with the stand-up of Turkey’s F-35 operational capability have been suspended,” Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mike Andrews, a Defense Department spokesman, said in a statement.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has refused to back down from Ankara’s planned purchase of a Russian S-400 missile defense system that the United States has said would compromise the security of F-35 aircraft. The disagreement over the F-35 is the latest of a series of diplomatic disputes between the United States and Turkey including Turkish demands that the United States extradite Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, differences over Middle East policy and the war in Syria, and sanctions on Iran.
In an attempt to persuade Turkey to drop its plans to buy the S-400, the United States offered the pricier American-made Patriot anti-missile system in a discounted deal that expired at the end of March. Turkey has shown interest in the Patriot system, but not at the expense of abandoning the S-400.
It's nice to see the US escalate and stop shipments of F-35s to a country that is going to use a Russian missile system, as it appears that the combination could make the F-35 less effective against said Russian missile systems.
Good. The F-35 program has been in the works for a long time, when Turkey was brought into the program as a partner it was a much different country and at the time still a close US Ally. If Turkey wants to openly integrate cutting edge US technology and systems with Russian gear that could still be actively accessed by Russian as part of servicing contracts then they shouldn't be trusted with our weapon systems at all.
Who's to say that if relations with the US and NATO worsen they wouldn't let Russian intelligence take a deep look into a F-35 or worse secretly turn over an entire airframe if they decide to leave NATO.
this whole contract has been a gigantic shitshow anyways, turkey wanted patriots but couldn't have them then they could but they then didn't want them, its a mess
Turkey shouldn't get shit from us, they'll sell it to the Russians and Chinese the first chance they get.
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