Photo: US National Archives
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The US has notified Turkey that it was excluded from a new deal for the F-35 fighter jet program, the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported last night (April 21), citing a Pentagon official.
The official said the US and eight other countries canceled a 2006 agreement and signed a new one but didn't go into further details, according to the report.
Turkey was a production partner of the F-35s but was removed from the program in July 2019 over its purchase of the S-400 ground-to-air missile systems from Russia.
Despite that, Turkey-based contractors have been continuing to produce F-35 parts.
The US has expressed concern that Russia might use the S-400 systems to obtain critical information about the F-35s.
The other members of the F-35 program are the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Canada and Norway.
What happened?
Turkey had been in the F-35 program since 1999 and its defense industry had taken part in the production of the planes.
The parts manufactured by Alp Aeıspace, AYESAŞ, Kale Aerospace, Kale Pratt & Whitney and the Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (TUSAŞ) have been on all F-35 planes since the first one.
Turkey was given the ownership of four F-35 planes in 2018. Pilots from Turkey attended training programs in the US.
Later, the ownership of two more planes was given to Turkey but none of them have been delivered to the country due to its purchase of the S-400 missile systems from Russia.
Turkey signed the S-400 agreement with Russia in April 2017 and received the first batch of equipment in July 2019, after which the US announced Turkey's suspension from the F-35 program.
Previously, the US announced in April 2019 that it suspended the delivery of equipment associated with the F-35 project to Turkey.
At the end of July 2019, Turkey's pilots trained for the F-25 program returned to the country.
In late 2019, then US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Turkey must choose between the F-35s and the S-400s.
As part of its 2020 defense budget, the US decided to buy the six planes owned by Turkey.
The US found new supplies for the 1,005 different parts that were produced by Turkey-based companies.
Turkey confirmed in October 2020 that it tested the S-400 systems but hasn't activated them yet.
In December, the US announced sanctions on Turkey's arms purchasing agency. (EKN/VK)
