ANKARA, February 1. /TASS/. The presence of Russian-made S-400 missile systems in NATO member Ankara’s arsenals is not the only factor blocking Turkey’s return to the production program for the US’ fifth-generation F-35 fighter aircraft, pro-Turkish government newspaper Yeni Safak writes.
Earlier, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said in an interview with CNN Turk that Washington was ready to bring Ankara back into the F-35 program provided a resolution was found to the contentious issue of the S-400 systems that Turkey purchased from Russia. That said, Turkey is expected to give up those systems.
However, Yeni Safak’s sources point out that, apart from the Russian-made weapons, there also is an entire range of issues behind Turkey’s problematic participation in the F-35 program. These encompass issues over which Ankara and Washington have strong differences, including the situation in the eastern Mediterranean, developments in the Middle East, US support for Israel and the activities of Kurdish organizations in Syria, which Ankara believes are covertly backed by the US.
The Hurriyet newspaper, in turn, notes in this regard that it does not appear realistic at this point for Turkey to back down on the S-400 issue for the sake of returning to the F-35 project. Moreover, the US State Department’s approval for the potential sale of $8.6 bln worth of F-35 fighters and related equipment to Athens has become another bone of contention between Ankara and Washington. If Greece receives the planes, its aircraft fleet will be one generation younger than that of Turkey. As well, efforts to overhaul Greece’s F-16 fighter jets to the 4+ generation have been underway since 2022, the newspaper notes, while the same work has not even begun in Turkey. Thus, on top of the F-35 issue, Ankara is worried lest its air force capabilities fall behind technologically, leading to a gap with the Greek air force. This is one of the reasons why Turkey is investing significant funds in its homegrown KAAN project to develop a fifth-generation fighter aircraft. The aircraft is expected to perform its first test flight later this year, while the country’s air force will start taking delivery of the jets in 2028.