Congress to make determination on F-35s for Turkey
Defense officials have handed lawmakers a congressionally mandated report assessing the impact of Turkey’s removal from the F-35 program.
Congress now has its chance to evaluate Turkey’s participation in building the F-35 stealth jet after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis delivered a report to Capitol Hill on the NATO ally’s $12 billion contribution to the program.
Lawmakers are weighing whether to kick Turkish firms out of the F-35 program amid fraught relations with the NATO ally. Turkey has shown interest in purchasing up to 100 of the latest-generation aircraft and has already taken possession of two of them, but Congress froze further deliveries pending the report on the US-Turkey relationship, including Turkey’s participation in the fighter jet’s supply chain.
The Pentagon shared a classified version of the report with Congress on Nov. 16 that outlines possible delays the program would face from removing Ankara. Defense officials were quick to point out that the report would not impact the US military-to-military relationship with Turkey.
“Nothing has changed in our relationship with Turkey,” a US defense official told Al-Monitor. “The ball is in Congress’ court.”
