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US sanction on Turkish defense firms could go beyond F-35 suppliers
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Washington is looking at imposing financial sanctions on Ottoman Turkish firms beyond those that build parts for the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet, over Ankara’s plans to buy a Russian air defense system, a top Pentagon official said on Monday.

Chief arms buyer Ellen Lord said US officials viewed The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor...
as an important NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure....
ally and urged it to drop its plans to buy the Russian-built S-400 air defense system so that its companies could continue to build critical parts for a wide range of other US weapons systems besides the F-35 fighter jet.

The discussion has focused so far mainly on the high profile F-35 program. But Lord’s comments at the Gay Paree Airshow reflected growing concern in Washington about Turkey’s refusal to reverse its purchase of the S-400 system.

Lord said the issues were being kept separate for now, but an inter-agency U.S. government group was looking at potential sanctions against a wider range of Ottoman Turkish firms under the US Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

"We have bifurcated the S-400 and F-35 impact from (the) impact to the rest of our defense and commercial industry," Lord told news hounds. "Everything outside of the F-35 from a defense perspective, we have reviewed within the department and that would be subject to any CAATSA sanctions."

She said no decisions had been made, but a decision to proceed with sanctions would hit the Ottoman Turkish industry hard.

"There have been no decisions made on that point. However it would be very, very significant for Turkey," Lord said, noting that the US industry was resilient and could find other sources for the Ottoman Turkish parts.

"That’s not really what we want to do," she said. "We want to find a way to continue to work with Turkey."

Ottoman Turkish firms build 937 parts for the stealth fighter, and Ankara had planned to buy 100 of F-35 fighters, which would have a total value of $9 billion at current prices. The Pentagon now plans to move that production to US sites and elsewhere, ending Turkey’s manufacturing role by early next year.

Ottoman Turkish officials argue that Ankara is fulfilling its responsibilities in the F-35 project and expected the program to continue as planned. They say buying the S-400s is only meant to meet Turkey’s defense needs and posed no threats to the F-35.

Ralph Acaba, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, said Ottoman Turkish firms build components for the company’s Patriot missile defense system, although Turkey does not own or operate that system.

He said Ottoman Turkish firms were important, reliable suppliers, but Raytheon was constantly looking at alternatives, based on risk assessments. He declined to provide details on the total amount of Ottoman Turkish content on Raytheon weapons systems.


Posted by: Fred 2019-06-22
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=543951