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Why Washington expelled Turkey from the F-35 programme
Summary
A look back at the 17 July 2019 decision that followed Ankara's receipt of Russian air-defence missiles.
What did Turkey gain, and lose, when it took delivery of Russian missiles? By 18 July 2019 the answer was becoming clear. A day earlier, on 17 July 2019, the United States removed Turkey, a NATO ally, from the Joint Strike Fighter programme.
The trigger was the S-400 missile system. On 12 July 2019, Turkey received its first shipment of the Russian-made system, defying calls from the United States and NATO to cancel the deal. Five days later Washington responded by excluding Ankara from the F-35 project.
What was at stake
Turkey had planned to buy 100 F-35 Lightning II jets. The expulsion put that plan out of reach and set an alliance member against its allies over a purchase from Russia.
Reading it from Kyiv
For an analysis desk focused on Ukraine and its neighbours, the sequence shows how one defence purchase can become a dispute inside NATO within days. The deliveries began on 12 July 2019 and the American decision came on 17 July 2019, so the gap between the act and the penalty was short.
The episode also unfolded on the Black Sea's southern shore, in a country bordering the wider region this publication covers. Meanwhile, ordinary life in Kyiv carried on: the Atlas Weekend music festival had ended there on 13 July 2019.
The lesson of 18 July 2019 is narrower than the headlines of the time suggested: Turkey chose the Russian system despite explicit warnings, and the United States followed through on removing it from the programme.
