Ankara To Find Substitute For US F-35 Jets If Washington Halts Deliveries - Minister

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th April, 2019) Ankara will find a substitute for the US F-35 fighter jets if the United States refuses to deliver the aircraft to Turkey over the purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense systems, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

Earlier in April, the Pentagon announced that Washington halted deliveries and activities with Turkey on F-35 fighter jet program over Ankara's decision to buy the Russian S-400 air defense systems.

"There are F-35, but there are also aircraft manufactured in Russia. If we are not able to purchase F-35, Turkey will buy similar aircraft from other countries. And this will continue until we start producing our own fifth-generation fighter jets," Cavusoglu said as quoted by Turkey's NTV broadcaster.

He added that the United States had made a lot of controversial statements regarding Turkey's future participation in the F-35 program and added that a total of four of about 100 aircraft that the country planned to buy had been received so far.

The Russian-Turkish cooperation on S-400 deliveries has been criticized by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States, which have cited security concerns and inability of integration between S-400 and NATO's air defense systems. Ankara, in its turn, has said that purchase of military equipment is its sovereign affair and ruled out the possibility of abandoning its plans. The first shipment of S-400 air defense systems is expected to be delivered to Ankara in July.