US warns serious consequences for Turkey

“If Turkey takes over the S-400 system, there will be serious consequences for our military relationship with them”, Pentagon spokesman Charlie Summers told reporters Friday.

Mr. Summers said that, as a result, Turkey would lose the opportunity to obtain military weapons that the US sells to this country, including new F-35 fighter aircraft, long expected to be purchased by Turkey.

“If they take S-400 then they won't take the F-35 and Patriots,” said Mr. Summers, referring to the American Land-air missile system “Patrios”, which has a primary defense function against ballistic missiles and is presented as an alternative to the Russian S-400 missile system.

In 2017 Ankara signed an agreement with Moscow on the S-400 missile system. At the same time, Turkey has helped finance the F-35 programme and is planning to buy 100 planes from the US, the first part which is projected to surrender to Turkish authorities later this year.

Washington fears that the sophisticated S-400 radar system could compromise F-35 technology that was developed to avoid Russian missile systems. Ankara insists that S-400 offers the best value for its needs and poses no threat to NATO systems.

Earlier this week, American Command Europe head Curtis Scaparrotti told lawmakers that the United States should not push ahead with the sale of F-35 if Turkey buys S-400.

A day later, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his commitment to buying the Russian missile system and suggested it would expand its acquisition with a more advanced Russian system, S-500.

Ankara is expected to take over the S-400 system later this year, hoping to put it into use by 2020.