The US Department of Defense has confirmed the sending of a notification to Turkey, according to which the country is officially excluded from the F-35 generation fighter program. This was announced by the official representative of the military department Jessica Maxwell on Thursday, April 22.
According to her, the decision to exclude Ankara was due to the purchase of the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM), which, according to the Pentagon, are “incompatible” with the F-35, writes TASS.
The official exclusion of Turkey from the F-35 program on April 22 was reported by Anadolu, citing sources in the US Defense Ministry.
According to the information provided by the publication, the reason for this measure was Ankara’s purchases of Russian S-400 air defense systems.
On the same day, the exclusion of Turkey from the F-35 program was commented on by the country’s parliamentary deputy Ozturk Yilmaz.
He noted that in this way the United States only stimulated the deterioration of relations between the countries, but this situation has its positive aspects, for example, the prospect of the development of the national defense industry in Turkey.