US Officials Discuss Disabling Turkish S-400s for F-35 Sale

NEW YORK, July 8. /TASS/. US officials are discussing the disabling of elements of the Russian-made S-400 air defense systems currently in service with Turkey as one of the options for supplying Turkey with F-35 fifth-generation fighters, the American portal Semafor reported, citing sources.

According to the portal, Washington considers this scenario a compromise, as it should help circumvent restrictions on F-35 sales to Turkey imposed by the US Congress while allowing Ankara to retain its S-400s. However, the Trump administration has not yet made a final decision on how Washington will sell F-35 fighters to Turkey.

On July 7, during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump stated that the Washington administration would consider supplying F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, as this would strengthen bilateral relations. Erdogan, in turn, noted that he was counting on a positive US decision on the F-35. On July 8, during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the alliance summit in Ankara, Trump announced that Turkey would receive fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets.

In 2017, Turkey purchased four divisions of the S-400 air defense systems from Russia for $2.5 billion. In October 2019, Russia’s arms exporter Rosoboronexport (part of the state tech corporation Rostec) announced that the contract for the systems had been fulfilled. Following the signing of the contract between Turkey and Russia for the supply of a regimental set of S-400 systems, Ankara was excluded from the US program to develop the next-generation F-35 fighter jet.