Türkiye Torn Between S-400 and F-35

Türkiye has been acquiring American F-35 fighters for nearly a quarter of a century. The United States barred the Turkish Air Force from receiving the F-35 stealth fighters because of Ankara’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system. How has US policy changed on this issue?

Reasons for the 2019 US Sanctions Against Türkiye

The modernization of the Turkish Air Force serves both Türkiye’s national security interests and the common interests of NATO in the European and Middle Eastern theaters of potential military operations. However, intra-alliance contradictions, on the one hand, and the Turkish authorities following an independent foreign policy since the 2000s in favor of mutually beneficial ties with China and Russia, on the other, led to the imposition of sanctions against Türkiye by its principal ally, the United States.

As is well known, as early as July 2002, within the framework of modernizing its national air force, Türkiye joined the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Development Effort, and in January 2007 it joined the JSF production phase and agreed to purchase 116 F-35 Lightning II fighters (100 units for the Air Force and 16 units for the Navy).

However, because of the United States’ refusal to supply Türkiye with Patriot air-defense systems, in 2019 Ankara, pursuing an independent policy, purchased two S-400 surface-to-air missile system batteries from Russia for $2.5 billion. This forced step by Türkiye, taken amid the strengthening of the Greek Air Force, became the pretext for the United States imposing sanctions prohibiting the delivery of F-35 fighters to Ankara. On 17 July 2019 the US Senate passed a defense spending bill that banned the sale of these fighters to........

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