WASHINGTON – Washington kicked Ankara out of the F-35 fighter programmethis summer, after the country began taking delivery of its Russian-madeS-400 air defence systems, which the Pentagon repeatedly claimed mightcompromise the security of Lockheed Martin’s advanced fifth-generationaircraft.
Senior South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has said that hewould support an effort to try to get Turkey back into the F-35 programme,telling Turkish media that he would like to see the NATO ally regain itsaccess to the advanced fighter.
“I’m hopeful we can get a more strategic relationship with Turkey, supportit, try to get them back into the F-35 programme, maybe talk about a freetrade agreement, because Turkey is a very important ally, not just when itcomes to Syria, but really the whole region,” Graham saidlink, speaking toreporters after a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Graham had previously stepped out aginst possible US sanctions on Turkeyfor its purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile systems under the CounteringAmerica’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), a 2017 law hesupported aimed at curbing Russian military exports.
The United States formally blocked the delivery of F-35 fighters to Turkeyin July, after the country began taking delivery of its first batch ofS-400s under a $2.5 billion deal signed by Moscow and Ankara.
US and NATO officials have repeatedly warned that the S-400s’ presence inTurkey might allow Russia to collect sensitive information about NATOsystems, as well as the F-35 fighter and its stealth capabilities. In May,a senior Pentagon official said the deployment of S-400s in Turkey would be“devastating,”linkbothfor the F-35 programme and in terms of continued Turkish interoperabilitywith NATO. It’s also been speculated that the presence of bothsystems would have allowed Turkey to test just how formidable the priceyF-35’s stealth systems were when matched up against the Russian system.
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Late last week, the Russian ministry of defence said the Pentagon’sconcerns over Turkey’s S-400 air defence systems and their potential to‘lift the veil of secrecy’ about the F-35’s capabilities were not entirelyunfounded. According to the Russian military, F-35s were only “invisible”to their foreign buyers, and to US taxpayers.
Turkey had been a key partner in the F-35 programme, serving as thesupplier of about 900 components, and spending over a billion dollars onthe fighter’s development. Turkey planned to buy upwards of 100-120 of theadvanced planes, whose production cost ranges from $90-$115 million apiece.The Trump administration’s decision to boot the country out of theprogramme is believed to have cost the US about $500-$600 million inengineering costs to be able to build the parts traditionally handled byTurkish suppliers.
President Erdogan has repeatedly criticised the US move to kick his countryout of the F-35 programme. Late last month, Erdogan said Ankara was now intalks with Russia on the possibility of buying Russia’s Su-57 fighteraircraft instead. Erdogan made the remarks after visiting an airshow withRussian President Vladimir Putin, where he reportedly also expressedinterest in Russia’s MiG-35, and Su-35 fighters.
