F-35 deliveries to Turkey have been under threat since the country signed a contract with Russia in December 2017 for the purchase of S-400 air defence systems. Washington believes the S-400s could reveal weaknesses of the F-35 and that the data could be relayed to Moscow, leading the US to warn it could block the delivery of its jets to Ankara.
The US will be transferring an additional two F-35 fifth-generation jets to the Luke Air Force Base soon, where they will be handed over to Turkish pilots and technicians who will learn to fly and maintain the aircraft, spokesman for the F-35 programme Joe DellaVedova told Anadolu Agency. According to him, Turkey's participation in the F-35 programme is continuing as planed “until otherwise directed”.
DellaVedova noted that the two F-35s meant for Turkey are already at the Luke Air Force Base and are scheduled to be transferred to the country in November, the news agency reported. The spokesman declined to reveal the specific date, but according to the schedule, the new aircraft are meant to be delivered to the destined state within a year or two after the end of the training programmes.
The fate of the 100 F-35s that Turkey has ordered from Lockheed Martin remains in question, as the US Congress is considering blocking the deliveries. US lawmakers fear that the Russian S-400 air defence systems that Turkey bought in 2017 may reveal the F-35's weaknesses and transfer the data to Moscow.
Their concerns…
