White House kicks Turkey out of fighter jet project

Turkey will no longer be allowed to participate in the F-35 fighter jet program as punishment for taking delivery of a Russian air defense system, the White House officially announced Wednesday.

The move marks a new low point for long-standing U.S.-Turkish ties, which have spiraled downward in recent years over Ankara's stifling of democratic opposition groups and its cozier relationship with Moscow.

The NATO ally, which has been a key partner on the stealth plane, on Friday received its first delivery of the S-400 air defense system, despite U.S. objections that the military alliance cannot tolerate the Russian-made system and the F-35 because it would give the Russians a battlefield advantage.

“Turkey’s decision to purchase Russian S-400 air defense systems renders its continued involvement with the F-35 impossible,” a statement from the White House press secretary said. “The F-35 cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence collection platform that will be used to learn about its advanced capabilities."

The White House statement makes no mention of whether sanctions will also be imposed under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. But further retaliation against Ankara could still be enforced by Congress and come at a later time.

The Defense Department's undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, Ellen Lord, later described the risks that the U.S. believes the F-35 would face because of the Russian missiles and their accompanying radars and other equipment.

“Turkey cannot field a Russian intelligence collection platform in proximity to where the F-35 program makes repairs and houses the F-35," Lord said in a twice-delayed briefing at the Pentagon on Wednesday afternoon. "Much of the F-35’s strength lies in its stealth capabilities, so the ability to detect those capabilities would jeopardize the long term security of the F-35 program."

Lord deferred all questions about possible sanctions to the State Department, and said no decision have been made yet about the fate of the handful of F-35s Turkey had already bought, which had been scheduled to leave the U.S. for Turkey this fall.

Turkey was set to buy about 100 of the Lockheed Martin-built F-35s and its pilots have been training in the United States. The pilot training program is set to end at the end of July if Turkey went ahead with the S-400 sale, according to a letter from the Pentagon last month.

Turkey also manufactures more than 900 parts for the F-35, and the Pentagon will have to find an alternative among other partners on the multinational program. That could cause significant delays in the program, according to Soner Cagaptay, the director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“It’s not as if Turkey’s absence from the program won’t cause it any damage,” he said. “At the very least, it will slow the F-35 production calendar down. It will take at least a year, maybe two for another country to come in and replace Turkey.”

Other international partners on the program include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom.

Lord contended that Turkey’s expulsion “will have minimal impact on the larger F-35 program,” adding that at least initially, “primarily U.S. sources” would be used to make the parts Turkey was responsible for manufacturing. Turkish construction of those parts is set to wind down between now and the end of March, rather than ending abruptly, and so long as that schedule stays in place, “we see no delays to aircraft in the program,” she said.

Still, Lord acknowledged, the U.S. “is spending between $500 and $600 million in non-recurring engineering in order to shift the supply chain” out of Turkey, she said.

Despite the rupture, the White House also said Wednesday it hopes the mutually beneficial defense relationship between the U.S. and Turkey, one of the founding members of the alliance after World War II, can continue.

“The United States still greatly values our strategic relationship with Turkey,” its statement says. “As NATO Allies, our relationship is multi-layered, and not solely focused on the F-35. Our military-to-military relationship is strong, and we will continue to cooperate with Turkey extensively, mindful of constraints due to the presence of the S-400 system in Turkey.”

Wesley Morgan contributed to this report.