F-35 Program To Be At Risk If Turkey Removed Over S-400 - Ex-US Lawmaker

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2019) The F-35 fighter jet program would be at risk in case of possible removal of Turkey from it over Ankara's purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems, former US Congressman and Co-Founder of Turkish Caucus H.E. Edward Whitfield told Sputnik on Monday.

When asked if the F-35 program is at risk in Washington removes Turkey from it, Whitfield said, "Yes."

"A number of parts are manufactured in Turkey. Turkey is one of the main maintenance hubs for the F-35 program in Europe and so if they can't be a participant we're going to have to make major adjustments. Those will be very important adjustments. We don't really know what all the answers are right now," Whitfield said. "I think it will hurt the relationship between the two countries, there are major ramifications from this. If you remove Turkey from the F-35 program there are major ramifications of that and so this could shake the foundations of the NATO alliance as it relates to Turkey."

The United States claims that S-400 systems are not compatible with NATO defenses and may compromise the F-35 stealthy jet project. Washington said in June it would not accept more Turkish pilots for F-35 training unless it abandoned the agreement with Russia. Turkey refused, saying it was a done deal.

"From military leaders in the US, from military leaders with NATO, with politicians in the US, it's a major issue because we have a NATO member country activating a missile defense system from Russia and concerned about F-35 security. It's a big issue, it's unchartered waters, and there can be major ramifications from the implementation of the S-400 system in Turkey," Whitfield pointed out.

Whitfield continued to say that he thinks that there will be sanctions against Turkey.

"In the legislation there's 12 separate sanctions and they select five and I wouldn't be able to speculate on what the five might be. Mr. Erdogan has said he doesn't think there will be any sanctions because he thinks he's convinced President Trump not to do it. I think most people believe there will be sanctions," he noted.

The former congressman also expressed hope for further discussions on the matter between Ankara and Washington in order to solve the issue.

"I think there's always solutions and hopefully there will be continued negotiations. We've had negotiations between President Trump and Erdogan. We've had military discussions, we've had bureaucrat discussions, we've had politician discussions, all that is going to continue," he said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday, commenting on the delivery of Russian S-400 air defense systems that Turkey aims to manufacture advanced air defense systems jointly with Russia.

Moscow and Ankara signed a loan agreement for the delivery of the S-400 air defense systems to Turkey in December 2017. Turkish cooperation with Russia on this matter has been strongly criticized by NATO and the United States, which has cited security concerns and the S-400's incompatibility with NATO's air defense systems.

Russia began delivering parts of the missile systems to Turkey on July 12.

On Sunday, Erdogan said that As many as 100 Turkish experts were sent to Russia to learn how to operate the Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems.

According to media reports, the United States has already decided on a package of sanctions against Turkey over the procurement of S-400 systems, which can be announced later in July.

The president also stressed that the whole process of importing and installing S-400 systems would be over by April 2020.

In addition, Erdogan called the deal on systems the most important in Turkish history since it was a step to co-production with Russia and a step to a dialogue about S-500 air defense systems. Ankara is not thinking only about today but also about the future, the Turkish leader said stressing that his country was purchasing S-400 only to ensure its national security and not to prepare for military actions.

He also noted that NATO should be happy that Turkey was getting Russian missile systems.