Posted on 04/01/2019 3:21:49 PM PDT by Eleutheria5
US officials said on Monday that Washington has stopped delivery of F-35 fighter jet parts to Turkey in response to Ankara's decision to move ahead with the purchase of a Russian surface-to-air missile system, The Associated Press reported.
The officials spoke anonymously to discuss the decision before it was announced.
Ankara's push to buy the systems from Moscow has caused tensions with the US, its NATO ally.
Military experts are concerned that the deployment of S-400s would put the security of allied weapon systems, particularly F-35 aircraft and radar facilities, in danger.
The US believes the S-400 sale is part of Russian efforts to disrupt the alliance amid Western concern over Erdogan's burgeoning relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The US has been warning Turkey for months that buying the Russian S-400 system would jeopardize its planned purchase of the advanced fighter aircraft. The halt in the delivery of parts and manuals is the first step toward ending the actual aircraft sale.
A top US general said last month he would recommend that the United States withhold delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey if Ankara goes through with the purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system.
Monday’s move comes just days after Turkey's foreign minister said his country was committed to a deal to buy the Russian system and was discussing delivery dates.
In January, Turkey rejected a US offer to cancel its purchase of S-400 missiles from Russia. This came after a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made clear that Turkey’s purchase of US missiles will not affect its deal to acquire rival S-400 missiles from Russia.
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(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
Good name for a Boeing supporter.
Turkey ain't worth the headache, we should sell nothing military or communications tech to Turkey and boot 'em from NATO while requiring European NATO members to pay the entire cost of their own defense, no discounts.
And as soon as an S-400 were up and running, it would be doing all sorts of testing with F-35's under Turkey's control so Russia could monitor, compare, hone and refine the S-400.
Stop selling our most advanced technology to Muslim cave people.
Bingo!
Russia doesn't have an F-35 equivalent.
My mistake. The Turks have been training at Luke AFB in Arizona. As Bloomberg explained today, the delivery of two F-35s intended to help train Turkish pilots at Luke AFB has been delayed. The fighters are intended to join two F-35s previously delivered to Luke Air Force Base for Turkish pilot training.
Not a fan of Boeing either. F-35 started development in 1992 between Boeing & Lockheed Martin.. it went to OT for the Navy in Dec 2018, 18 years after it was selected and it’s still in redesign.
Testing showed the F-35 is incapable of performing most of the functions required for an acceptable close support aircraft which is one of it’s major functions. There were over 260 known Priority 1 and 2 deficiencies late last year.
The entire fleet of 235 operationally deployed aircraft (last year) was only available and ready to perform all of the F-35’s intended multiple missions 26 percent of the time—that is, 26 percent was the “fully mission capable” rate.
It was supposed to be cheaper to fly than older aircraft i.e. F-18, F-16, F-22 etc but it’s already surpassed all those at $30k + per flight hour.
It’s been a major failure since day one and was based on a bad design.. one aircraft fits all which already gone in 3 different directions.
I could go on but it’s late.
LM won because they had a better plane - and still does. How’s that new commercial plane working out for Boeing now.
Short cuts work in the short run - all problems resolved - best plane in the air today (with the possible exception of the F22, which Boeing managed to kill).
I imagine there had to be an order, then a bunch of the planes built, and now ready for testing and delivery. How long does all that take? Was the original order made under Bush 2, Obama, or Trump?
Trying to put too many capabilities into too few types of aircraft has been a long standing issue. Back in the 1960s I working in the Market Information & Communications Operation of the Aerospace and Defense Marketing Operation of the Aerospace and Defense Division of General Electric Company. I heard the bosses arguing about this very issue. At the time vertical takeoff and lift aircraft was being touted as the coming thing. I think that has fizzled. Anybody know the current status of VTOL aircraft?
Turkish involvement in the F-35 program dates to 2002, so GW Bush is to blame.
Because Turkey is a NATO ally and is treaty bound to defend the US if it is attacked. Plus Lockheed Martin gets to make some money.
Now, here is a question for you. Why is Turkey in NATO? Bonus question. Should Turkey remain in NATO?
LM won because of the two bad aircraft designs, there’s was the less faulty.
Turkey was never our ally.
LM actually closed the deal in a gutsy test weeks before the bids went in. They demonstrated for the first time that there “high-risk” vertical take-off system worked, thus lowering the risk assessment. If that test had failed, it is believed they would have lost the competition.
Apparently we have been doing this for 20 years or more. Remember when we wanted to use their air bases to move our planes to Iraq. Quid pro Quo?
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