In a bid to resolve the conundrum over Turkey’s acquisition of a Russian S-400 missile defense system that led to its removal from the F-35 program, the United States has proposed that the US take control of the S-400s in exchange for Turkey’s return to the F-35 program, the Greek Kathimerini newspaper reported, citing sources.
Although Turkey joined the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program (JSF) in 2007 and was one of the partner countries of the program along with other NATO allies, it was removed from the program by Washington in 2019 in protest of the Turkish government’s purchase of the Russian S-400s, which Washington said posed a risk to its fifth-generation warplanes and NATO’s broader defense systems.
According to Kathimerini, the United States submitted a detailed proposal to Turkey over the summer that would allow it to keep the missiles on its territory but essentially transfer their control to the United States.
As part of the discussions, senior US officials have floated a proposal to transfer the Russian system to the US-controlled part of İncirlik Airbase in southern Turkey. The proposal will reportedly not put Turkey in a difficult situation since neither the terms of its contract with Russia nor any binding clauses will be violated.
Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former Pentagon official, confirmed to Kathimerini that White House and Pentagon officials presented the proposal to high-level Turkish government officials in July.
“My sources in the region say that during their July 1-2, 2024 visit to Turkey, Celeste Wallander, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, and Michael Carpenter, special advisor to the president and senior director for Europe at the US National Security Council, recently discussed reviving the F-35 deal with their Turkish counterparts. In exchange for re-entering the F-35 program, they demanded Turkey hand over the S-400s to the United States or transfer them to the US-controlled sector at Incirlik base,” Rubin said.
İncirlik, located in Adana province, is home to the US Air Force’s 39th Air Base Wing.
The day after the visit, the US Embassy in Ankara reported that Wallander and Carpenter had discussed with Turkish officials the development of “additional areas for increased partnership and the goals of increasing long standing defense ties.”
Asked by Kathimerini about the exact state of negotiations between the two sides, Pentagon spokesperson Javan Rasnake said that “since 2019, we have relayed to Turkiye our position on its acquisition of the S-400 system and the consequences for doing so, which are enshrined in legislation. There has been no change in the US position or legislation on this topic.”
According to Kathimerini, the submission of a plan for the transfer of the Russian missile systems to İncirlik, together with the legislative initiatives that were unsuccessfully launched in Congress this summer, proves that efforts to resolve the S-400 issue are in full swing, the options under consideration are varied and possible changes in the US position or legislation may be imminent.
Commenting on this particular stage in the intense process, which is taking place a few months before the US elections, Rubin said that “the most dangerous time in American foreign and defense policy is in the sunset of an administration. Presidents feel unencumbered by accountability. They can do whatever they want without ever having to face the voters again. Ambassadors and assistant secretaries, meanwhile, want to set themselves up with golden parachutes to corporate boards or energy and defense companies. The Biden team seems more reckless than most. If there’s one issue about which there should be consensus in Washington and Brussels, it is that Erdogan’s Turkey is a force for instability throughout the region.”
According to Kathimerini’s sources, the Turkish response at this stage is not positive, but discussions are expected to continue this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“Their Turkish counterparts refused and countered they would just keep them in the box inside Turkey. The deal is not dead, however, as reviving the F-35 deal will be on the agenda for the United States and Turkey when leaders and security officials meet next week at the UN General Assembly,” Rubin added.
Despite warnings from the United States and other NATO allies, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan brokered the deal worth $2.5 billion with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the S-400 missile system in 2017.
Washington also imposed sanctions in December 2020 on Turkey’s military procurement agency as punishment for its purchase of the S-400 under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, which mandates penalties for transactions deemed harmful to US interests.
In an attempt to modernize its aging air force, Turkey’s focus turned to buying F-16s after it was ousted from the F-35 program.
The US government on January 26 approved a $23 billion deal to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, after Ankara ratified Sweden’s NATO membership.
The sale to Turkey includes 40 Lockheed Martin F-16s and equipment to modernize 79 of its existing F-16 fleet.
HALC against Turkey’s inclusion in the F-35 program
Meanwhile, the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), a Greek lobbying organization in the US, has launched a petition against Turkey’s possible inclusion in the F-35 program, citing Turkey’s alleged violation of US law, its failure to act faithfully as an ally, its undermining of regional peace and stability and its growing collaboration with Russia.
The petition, prompted by the report in Kathimerini, is a letter to four key members of the US Congress, which can block the sale of the advanced aircraft: Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul; ranking member Gregory W. Meeks; and US senators Ben Cardin and Jim Risch, chair and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In the letter, HALC accused Turkey of using American weaponry, F-16s, against US allies such as Greece and Kurdish partners in Syria while violating CAATSA for years.
“The Erdogan government must comply with US law before giving it access to our most advanced weaponry is considered,” the letter says.In July, Greece formally approved an offer to buy 20 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from the United States as part of a major defense overhaul.