The first shipment of the Russian-made S-400 air defense missile system has landed in Ankara, in a move that sets up a potential showdown between Turkey and the United States.
The equipment arrived at the Murted Air Base on Friday, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry.
Another
plane is due to fly to Turkey with a second batch of equipment in the
near future, a military-diplomatic source told Russia's state-run TASS
news agency. That source added that a third delivery, carrying over "120
anti-aircraft missiles of various types" will be delivered "tentatively
at the end of the summer, by sea."
TASS
also quoted the source saying that Turkish S-400 operators will travel
to Russia for training in July and August. About 20 Turkish servicemen
underwent training at a Russian training center in May and June,
according to the source.
Turkey's
decision to purchase the equipment solidifies ties that have been
developed between Russia's President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish
counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and is just the latest setback to
US-Turkish relations which have seen the two NATO allies at odds over
issues such as Syria.
The US has long warned that Turkey risked being blocked from receiving the advanced F-35 stealth jet
due to Ankara's insistence on acquiring the Russian missiles -- a
system US officials fear could be used to analyze and collect
intelligence on the F-35.
A NATO
official told CNN on Friday that: "It is up to allies to decide what
military equipment they buy. However, we are concerned about the
potential consequences of Turkey's decision to acquire the S-400
system."
The official added that,
"interoperability of our armed forces is fundamental to NATO for the
conduct of our operations and missions."
How the US could react
On
Friday, acting US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper was planning to call
his Turkish counterpart, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, to discuss
Turkey's receipt of the Russian missile system, according to a US
defense official.
The Pentagon could formally suspend Turkey from participation in the F-35 program altogether.
Touted as the future of military aviation, the F-35 jet -- which is the most expensive weapons system in history
-- is a lethal and versatile aircraft that combines stealth
capabilities, supersonic speed, extreme agility and sensor fusion
technology, according to its primary contractor Lockheed Martin.
The
plane, which maintains stealth capabilities making it harder for enemy
radars to detect, has been a favorite of President Donald Trump, who has
lauded the F-35 several times for being "invisible."
The US had consistently told Turkey that the S-400 was incompatible with NATO systems.
During
a visit to NATO headquarters in Belgium late last month, Esper said:
"If Turkey accepts delivery of the S-400, they will not receive the
F-35. It's that simple."
Turkish F-35 students, maintenance personnel and instructor pilots that had been training in the US could also be sent home.
Yet
despite those warnings, senior Turkish officials had long expressed
optimism that the Trump administration would not follow through on its
threat to expel Turkey from the jet program, saying that the US
President had promised to resolve the issue while also pledging not to
integrate the S-400 with any NATO systems.
US
defense officials last month said the US was still determining what to
do about the four F-35 aircraft earmarked for Turkey that had remained
in the US to facilitate the training of Turkish pilots at Luke Air Force
Base in Arizona.
Sanctions expected
The
US is expected to level sanctions against Turkey over its acquisition
of the Russian system, penalties mandated by the Countering America's
Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) which penalizes countries
that purchase military equipment from blacklisted firms.
Ellen Lord,
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, told
reporters at the Pentagon last month that "there is strong bipartisan US
congressional determination to see CAATSA sanctions imposed on Turkey
if Turkey acquires the S-400."
Sanctions
could severely hurt Turkey's economy, which is suffering from the
fallout of Erdogan's recent move to sack the governor of the
Turkish Central Bank.
The Pentagon
had already begun suspending Turkey from some aspects of the F-35
program and announced last month that Ankara had until July 31 to reach a
mutual agreement with the US over the purchase of the Russian system,
but said that the suspension could come in advance of that if Turkey
were to take delivery of the missile system before then.
If the US ejects Turkey from the
program, Ankara will not only be prevented from fulfilling its plans to
acquire some 100 aircraft but Turkish companies and component
manufacturers, which have been involved in the plane's development will
lose out on significant business opportunities.
In
April, Vice President Mike Pence warned that the expulsion of Turkey
from the joint F-35 program "will harm not just Turkey's defense
capacity, but it may cripple many of the Turkish component manufacturers
that supply that program."
Turkish
Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu said in April that Turkey had already
invested "$1.2 billion and another $2.3 billion is on the way and we
have actually fulfilled all our obligations as one of the countries
which is in the (F-35) program."
The US Defense Department has said that
more than 900 of the jets parts, including elements of the landing gear
and center fuselage, are produced by Turkish industries with "a little
over 400 of them" being "sole-sourced."
Lord
said the Pentagon is actively working "with Lockheed Martin on the
aircraft side, with Pratt & Whitney on the engine side, to find
alternate sources" for the Turkish produced parts.
She
also said the program could rely on alternate depots in Europe to make
up for the loss of a Turkey-based parts depot that was meant to support
the aircraft's sustainment.
Turkey's purchase of the S-400 missile
system opens up wider questions concerning Turkey's diplomatic path, as
this sale marks another edge towards autocratic regimes like Russia.
Erdogan's
jailing of journalists and authoritarian have already clashed with key
tenants of NATO's membership, which carries with it obligations of
democracy and human rights.
But, more importantly, NATO's mission since inception is to defend other member states from Russian encroachment.
So
a key NATO member, with Turkey possessing the second largest standing
army and being its only Muslim member, actually courting Russian
hardware could be beyond the pale for many NATO members .
But
it appears that Erdogan seems to think the payoff from playing Moscow
against Brussels and Washington is greater than potentially being cast
out of the world's largest military alliance.
How has the Kremlin responded?
Russia has said that the deal is only commercial and that it is fulfilling their obligations under the contract.
The
Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation confirmed the start
of deliveries of the S-400 to Turkey on Friday, according to Russian
state news agency RIA Novosti.
Last month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there will be partial transfer of technology.
The
Kremlin has largely stood back from Friday's drama, however, watching a
wedge being driven in this important Western institution.
origin from cnn.com
