The United States has officially notified Turkey of the exclusion of the country from the F-35 fifth generation fighter program. This was reported by the Anadolu agency, citing a source in the Pentagon.
According to the publication, this is due to the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems by Ankara. The source noted that the 2006 memorandum on this program has been updated to take into account the remaining eight countries – USA, UK, Italy, Australia, Denmark, Canada, Norway and the Netherlands.
Earlier, on April 13, NATO’s Supreme Commander in Europe, Todd Walters, said that in the fall, the US Armed Forces would begin the transfer of their fifth generation F-35 fighter-bombers to Europe as part of their permanent deployment on the continent.
On March 24, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, after talks with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Brussels, said that Ankara is not abandoning the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems purchased from Russia, but is ready to discuss future arms purchases with the United States.
On February 3, then the United States’ National Security Assistant to the President, Jake Sullivan, stressed that Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 undermines NATO’s cohesion and effectiveness. At the same time, he pointed to the desire of the new American administration to “build constructive ties” between Washington and Ankara.
The F-35 is a multipurpose combat vehicle that was designed using signature reduction technology. In 2019, Washington decided to exclude Ankara from the program. F-35s are also purchased by Israel and Japan.
Deliveries of Russian S-400 air defense systems to Ankara began in mid-June 2019, which led to a crisis in relations between Turkey and the United States. The American administration has repeatedly condemned the acquisition of Russian weapons by the NATO country and insisted on the purchase of American systems by Turkey.
The S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system can destroy modern air attack targets, including ballistic missiles. The detection range is up to 600 km, the radius of the cover zone is 400 km.