(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Turkey’s purchase of a Russian anti-aircraft missile system presents “some very serious challenges” for the U.S., and directed Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to work on resolving the impasse.
Trump made the comments during a joint news conference with at the White House with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, indicating he and a small group of Republican senators were unable to persuade the Turkish leader to reconsider the acquisition during a day of meetings.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump said the dispute over the S-400 missile system “will work out fine.”
The Russian S-400 system, which Turkey began purchasing earlier this year, was designed to shoot down U.S. and allied aircraft at greater ranges and altitudes than older systems. U.S. officials are concerned that sensitive technology in its advanced F-35 fighter plane designed to evade such a system could be compromised and used to improve the Russian air defense system if Turkey, a NATO member, has both.
Top Pentagon officials have repeatedly said Turkey will not be able to participate in the U.S. F-35 program if the country continues with its deployment of the S-400. That position has been bolstered with bipartisan support among U.S. lawmakers, who have denounced Erdogan’s tightening embrace of Russia.
Ellen Lord, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer, said Oct. 29 that the U.S. believes Turkey will fully activate the Russian missile defense system by year-end.
“There has been no change to return Turkey to the F-35 program,” Lord said. “The S-400 air defense system, which is incompatible with the F-35, remains in Turkey,” and “we anticipate that being fully operational toward the end of the year,” she said at the time.
Turkey is an original partner on the F-35, the world’s costliest defense program. Its planned purchases of about 100 jets made it one of the four top foreign customers for the stealthy fighter made by Lockheed Martin Corp., along with Japan, Australia and the U.K. If it continues, Turkey’s expulsion from the program will directly impact at least ten of the country’s companies making almost 1,000 different parts for the plane.
Nevertheless, Trump has raised doubts about whether he backs the decision to kick Turkey out of the F-35 program. In an Oct. 8 tweet, he said, “So many people conveniently forget that Turkey is a big trading partner of the United States, in fact they make the structural steel frame for our F-35 Fighter Jet.”
Trump has blamed his predecessor, Barack Obama, for the tensions with Turkey, inaccurately saying that the former president wouldn’t let Turkey buy the U.S.-made Patriot system instead.
In fact, the U.S. has sought to sell Ankara the Patriot air-defense missile since at least 2013, but Erdogan insisted that it come with a transfer of technology so that Turkey could develop and build its own missiles. The Obama administration declined.
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