Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said that Turkey won’t be offered to rejoin the F-35 program when asked whether Turkey could be reinstated as a partner to stop blocking the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO.
According to the Breaking Defense site, Adam Smith was clear and forceful about the U.S. refusal to allow Turkey to rejoin the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) program, during a meeting with journalists.
Turkey is one of the original members of the program (since 1999), which resulted in the first ever exportable fifth generation stealth fighter. Ankara had intended to acquire a hundred F-35 Lightning IIs, but those plans were shattered when it also decided to buy the S-400 long-range air defense missile system from Russia.
After years of negotiations and despite Washington’s threats, Turkey went ahead with the S-400 acquisition, which resulted in its eventual expulsion from the F-35 program and the imposition of military and economic sanctions, which did little to affect Ankara’s resolve.
Now, because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the once neutral states of Sweden and Finland decided to apply for formal NATO membership. And Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti) found and unexpected bargain chip to play, blocking their entry to obtain (or regain) certain concessions from Washington.
See also: To approve Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership, Turkey wants its F-35s back
Ankara’s wish list includes the F-35s ordered and paid for, forty new F-16 Fighting Falcon Block 70s and 80 upgrade kits for F-16s from previous blocks. It would also ask Sweden and Finland to lift restrictions on arms sales imposed on Turkey, following its invasion of Syria in 2019.
The Biden administration would favor softening the Turkish position through the offer of modern weaponry, but Rep. Smith does not see it possible for the Turkish Air Force (Türk Hava Kuvvetleri) to operate fifth-generation F-35 aircrafts, while continuing to deploy Russian S-400 systems.
«It’s not about, you know, punishing Turkey for buying Russian weapons systems. It’s about not having the S-400 in the same place as the F-35 and the potential loss of critical information there to the Russians on that», Smith said.
While Smith has no direct control over the final decision to allow arms exports to Turkey, as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, from President Joe Biden’s party, he obviously knows what he is talking about.
