US to cut ties with Turkey on F-35 programme, shift supply chain to US

Washington will spend between USD500 million and USD600 million to shift part of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter supply chain out of Turkey, as part of its plan to remove the nation from the programme.

Five days after Turkey accepted the Russian S-400 surface-to-air (SAM) long-range air defence and missile systems, the Trump Administration broke its silence and announced that it would follow through on its threat to curtail Ankara’s participation in the F-35 effort.

“Unfortunately, Turkey’s decision to purchase Russian S-400 air defense systems renders its continued involvement with the F-35 impossible,” the White House said in a statement on 17 July.

Ellen Lord, the US Department of Defense’s undersecretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment, and David Trachtenberg, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, held a Pentagon press briefing after the announcement to flush out the details of what this will mean for the programme but deferred to discuss potential sanctions.

“Turkey cannot field a Russian intelligence collection platform in proximity to where the F-35 programme makes repairs and houses the F-35,” Lord told reporters. “Much of the F-35 strength lies in its stealth capabilities so the ability to detect those capabilities would jeopardize the long-term security of the F 35 programme.”