The F-35 Dispute and Tensions in the U.S.-Turkey Relationship

The United States has taken several escalatory steps in recent months to suspend delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, currently scheduled for November 2019. On Feb. 15, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019 (§ 7046) restricted funding for the delivery of F-35s to Turkey absent a report on Turkey’s pending purchase of Russian S-400 missiles, due by November 2019.  On April 1, the Pentagon officially announcedthe suspension of the delivery of two F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. Additionally, several bills have been introduced in Congress proposing further restrictions on the sale of the F-35 jets to Turkey (namely S.922, the “Protect NATO Skies Act of 2019,” and S.1102, the “Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act of 2019”).

All this is in response to Ankara’s purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system, which the U.S. fears will jeopardize the F-35’s critical stealth features. The S-400 was developed by Russia to identify and destroy fifth-generation fighter aircraft like the F-35, and the Pentagon claims that Turkey simultaneously operating the F-35 and S-400 in the same zone would give Russia access to detailed radar return data from the F-35. Senior Turkish officials suggest that the risk to the F-35 can be mitigated, but recent proposals to further study the technical issues were rebuffed by Washington.

If Turkey, a NATO member, moves forward with the purchase of the S-400 (which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signaled he intends to do), it may lead not only to the cancellation of the F-35 transfer but also to the United States removing Turkey from the nine-member F-35 production program. Either step (suspending the transfer of the F-35s or removing Turkey from the production program) raises a range of legal issues and further complicates an already difficult bilateral relationship.

 
Proposal to Deny the Transfer of F-35 Aircraft or Intermediate Components to Turkey

Members of the House and the Senate began introducing legislation restricting F-35 transfers to Turkey as far back as 2017, such as the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amendment offered by Rep. David Cicilline. Three similar bills were introduced in 2018 (S.2781, S.2925, H.5863). Despite Defense Secretary James Mattis’s request to stay F-35-related legislative action, the fiscal 2019 NDAA and the fiscal 2019 Omnibus Authorization Act (§ 8123) both required reports from the Department of Defense and the Department of State concerning the S-400 and F-35 purchases. Although the administration provided a report addressing congressional concerns about the S-400 program, as mandated by the fiscal 2019 NDAA, Congress remained unconvinced that Turkey would safeguard the F-35 technology. The 116th Congress picked up the issue with the fiscal 2019 Consolidated Appropriations Act(passed February 2019), which prohibited any funds from being used to deliver F-35s to Turkey until the secretary of state submitted a report on the S-400 sale.

Περισσότερα εδώ: https://www.lawfareblog.com/f-35

Πηγή: lawfareblog.com