Washington: Pentagon plans to cut off Turkey from a programme developing F-35 multi-role fighter jets over Ankara’s deals to purchase S-400 defence missile system from Russia, acting US defence secretary Patrick Shanahan has said.
According to ANI news reports, Shanahan also noted Turkey still remains a key “strategic US partner”, though, it cannot purchase both F-35 and S-400 “together”.
Shanahan said, “I want air-tight plans that have near-zero execution risk so that we can flawlessly deliver on all the other F-35s to, you know, out other customers. So part of me going through there is, and meeting with folks in like, show me where the risk is.”
He added, “Let’s talks about what kind of decisions we have to make to mitigate that risk. But at the same time, we are talking with Turkey. Now, S-400s and F-35s do not go together. That’s a big bump.”
Last week, Shanahan has held a meeting with officials of United Technologies Corporation, Lockheed Martin and US principal defence manufacturers, during which they discussed the outcomes of eliminating Turkey from the programme.
Turkish foreign minister Melvut Cavusoglu has said, “Turkey could cooperate with any other country if the US refused to supply F-35 fighters.”
Earlier, Pentagon spokesperson Eric Pahon has claimed Washington considers deal between Ankara and Moscow as a “strategic trick” of Russia to disconnect Turkey from its western allies.