WASHINGTON – During his testimony in front of the Houseof Representatives’ Appropriations Committee on 1 May, US Acting DefenseSecretary Patrick Shanahan has confirmed that Turkey won’t be able to getits hands on F-35 stealth aircraft if it proceeds with its intendedpurchase of Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile systems.
“I think there’s very little possibility that they have amisunderstanding,” Shanahan said when Rep. Diaz-Balart inquired whetherthis message has been sent to Ankara “clear enough”, and if there’s anychance that Turkish government hasn’t understood the message.
Diaz-Balart also stressed that “it’s one or the other – they cannot havethe F-35”, to which Shanahan replied that “there’s no confusion on ourpart”.
Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that amultinational project on the development of the F-35 Lightning II wouldcollapse without Turkey’s participation.
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Washington has repeatedly voiced concerns that if Turkey acquires bothS-400s and F-35s, it will create a possible security risk as Russianexperts would allegedly be able to obtain key insights into sensitiveinformation related to the warplane’s technology.
Ankara, for its part, has maintained that the S-400s were not connectedto the security of NATO, the US or the F-35 in any way. Despite Ankara’sexplanation of the issue, Washington has decided to stop deliveries of F-35fighter jet parts to Turkey.
