Turkey continues to produce parts for the F-35 fighter jet, the Pentagon confirmed

Turkey continues to produce parts for the F-35 fighter jet, the Pentagon confirmed The US will not refuse to purchase F-35 combat aircraft parts manufactured in Turkey until 2022, US Department of Defense spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews said on June 30, BulgarianMilitary.com reports. According to Andrews, the decision to not break the agreements concluded with Turkey was made by the Pentagon at the end of 2019. The lieutenant colonel explained that an immediate termination of contracts would be costly and destructive for the American army. A Pentagon spokesman said the US has identified alternative sources of supply for the F-35 parts that are currently being manufactured in Turkey. As Turkish contracts expire, the U.S. Army will enter into new contracts with other manufacturers. The Turkish F-35/S-400 saga The US has stopped the transfer to Turkey of support equipment for the Lockheed Martin F-35A. On April 1/ April 2 last year the United States has stopped the transfer to Turkey of support equipment for the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as Ankara moves ahead with plans to procure a Russian ground-based air defence system. The move, reported by Reuters and subsequently confirmed by the US Department of Defense (DoD) on 1 April, is the latest in a series of attempts by Washington to dissuade Turkey from procuring the S-400 over concerns that networking the Russian system into NATO’s wider air defence system would expose the F-35 to an unacceptable security risk. Turkey is expected to receive the S-400 in July. U.S has allowed Turkey to rejoin the F-35 program under certain conditions Turkey began looking for alternatives On November 27 2019 the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country will be forced to look for alternatives to fifth-generation F-35 US fighter jets if the US refuses to transfer them to the republic. He announced this at a press conference in Ankara on Wednesday. “We are partners [of the F-35 project] and today we have invested $ 1.4 billion in it. If we do not get the F-35, we will be forced to look for alternatives,” the Turkish foreign minister said. Russian and Western technologies cannot be compatible If Turkey acquired the S-400 alongside the F-35, the technology that makes that aircraft lethal could potentially be compromised. This opinion was expressed by hundreds of experts last year, including us. NATO states use a tactical data link that allows military aircraft and even ships and ground troops to share their tactical pictures in near-real time. This is called Link 16. NATO aircraft also use Identification Friend or Foe systems, known as IFF, to identify friendly aircraft in the sky. An IFF and Link 16 interrogator would have to be integrated into the S-400 system to allow the Turkish F-35, with the transponder, to fly within lethal range of the S-400. End of the story This year on March 4 the American company Lockheed Martin, which is engaged in the production of F-35A fighters, put an end to the discussion of Turkey’s participation in the project. The contract stipulated that Ankara would receive 100 fighters under this program. ---------------------------------------------------------------- CREDIT and RESPECT TO THE FOLLOWING SOURCE : bulgarianmilitary.com Hopefully this news is useful to increase knowledge in the field of military defense. Music: is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/... COPYRIGHT: Copyright disclaimer under section 107 of the copyright act 1976, allowance is made for 'fair use' for purposes such as criticism, comments, news reporting, teaching, research. Fair use is permitted by copyright statue that might otherwise be infriging. Nonprofit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. ---------------------------------------------------------------- #turkeymilitary #turkeydefense #turkeyairforce #turkeyaircraft #usaircraft #usmilitary