Turkey says eyes alternatives if US F-35 jets not acquired for any reason

Turkey says it will seek for alternative fighter jets if it cannot acquire US F-35 warplanes for any reason, months after Washington announced its official refusal to deliver the advanced aircraft purchased by Ankara.

“All should be aware that Turkey will have to look for alternatives if F-35s [jets] cannot be acquired for any reason,” the state-run Turkish Anadolu news agency quoted Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar as saying on Saturday.

Ankara reached a deal with Washington to purchase the stealth jets, whose full name are Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, and also to jointly manufacture them in Turkey.

However, after Turkey signed a deal with Russia in late 2017 to purchase its S-400 air defense systems, Washington began threatening to scrap the F-35 deal or else suspends the F-35 deal and imposes sanction on the Anatolian country.

The US alleges that the advanced Russian air shield systems are not compatible with the military hardware owned by the other countries of the Western military alliance of NATO, to which Turkey is also a member.

It also alleges that the S-400 defense systems pose a threat to F-35 fighter jets.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says it would be “robbery” if the United States refused to deliver the F-35 stealth fighter jets purchased by Ankara.

The Turkish defense minister also stressed that the S-400 missile defense systems would not be integrated into Turkey's defense system and that they would instead be part of a “stand-alone system.”

“That's what we have been saying since the beginning [of the dispute with the US]. It [S-400] will definitely be a ‘stand-alone’ system. We are not going to integrate this with the NATO systems in any way. It will operate independently,” Akar said.

The S-400 entered service with the Russian army in 2007 and is considered Russia’s most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system.

Capable of engaging targets at a distance of 400 kilometers and at an altitude of up to 30 kilometers, the missile system can destroy aircraft as well as cruise and ballistic missiles. It can also be used against land-based targets.

Turkey seeks to boost its air defense, particularly after Washington decided in 2015 to withdraw its Patriot surface-to-air missile system from Turkish border with Syria.

Ankara rejected the US allegations, including the incompatibility one, and did not give in to the US threats. It also, in defiance of the US threats, received the S-400 missile systems, which will be operational in spring, according to Dmitry Shugayev, the head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation.

In a retaliatory move, Washington suspended the F-35s deal with Ankara earlier this year and cancelled training of Turkish pilots in the US.

Russia: S-400s sold to Turkey to go operational in 2020

A Russian military official says the S-400 missile defense systems sold to Turkey will be operational in spring 2020.

Emphasizing that Ankara has fulfilled its responsibilities as one of the partner countries in the F-35 program, the Turkish defense minister further said Turkey’s allies, particularly the US, should do their part accordingly.

Back in August, Turkish daily Yeni Safak said in a report  that the Turkish defense procurement authorities had called on the country’s military to formally consider the purchase of Su-35 jets from Russia.

Ankara, the paper said, would start official negotiations with the Russian state arms company Rosoboronexport if the military approved the proposal.

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