Turkey expects to return to the F-35 program in the near future
Head of the parliamentary commission on national defense and former Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar stated that he expects concrete progress in resolving the issue with the S-400 air defense systems purchased by Ankara from Moscow and the republic's return in the near future to the F-35 fifth-generation fighter production program.
He made this statement during a visit by members of the parliamentary commission to the United States and after talks with the American side. "We have not said and are not saying that the S-400 will go to the UAE or anywhere else. We discussed between ourselves [Turkey and the United States] the possibility of reaching agreements for the quickest resolution of this issue, and we hope that some changes will occur in the near future and this problematic situation will be settled. The S-400 issue will be resolved in a certain way. We expect this, hope for it and wish for changes on this matter. And it seems this will happen," Akar said, according to the Anadolu agency.
He noted that the American side also "has information on this issue obtained through its own channels" and "on the basis of this information they gave a positive response" to the Turkish side.
Resolution of the S-400 issue, according to Akar's assessment, "will ultimately lead to significant and positive changes." "The S-400 became the reason for the suspension [for Turkey] of the F-35 program. As soon as the problem is removed, the F-35 program will resume directly," the parliamentarian said. "We will resolve this problem one way or another. It seems it will be settled."
In connection with the purchase of S-400 systems from Russia, Turkey was excluded from the F-35 program in 2019 on the basis of the U.S. law "Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act" (CAATSA). The Turkish newspaper Hürriyet reported last week that, according to its data, the S-400 systems have been resold to one of the Persian Gulf countries. The UAE and Qatar were named among the most likely buyers. Turkish authorities have not officially confirmed this information.
Turkey acquired four S-400 air defense system divisions from Russia in 2017 at a cost of $2.5 billion. In October 2019, the company Rosoboronexport reported that the contract for the delivery of the systems had been fulfilled.
