Page 25 - ADT AUGUST 2021 Online Magazine

No

Winners [ FOREIGN POLICY ]

Here

America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act ( CAATSA) on the
country has less to do with any security concerns that the U.S.
WORSENING TIES BETWEEN has about the Russian system and more to do with the Biden
THE U.S. AND TURKEY WILL administration wanting to dissuade other militaries from following
END UP HURTING THE MILITARY Turkey and buying Russian systems. Ismail Demir, head of Turkey's
Defence Industries Presidency (SSB), said in a TV interview in April
AMBITIONS OF BOTH COUNTRIES that the U.S. was yet to explain what sort of danger the S-400
missile defence system poses to it.

Arun Sivasankaran
Reacting to Adversity
Its removal from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter project is a setback
With the U.S. officially notifying Turkey of for Turkey, but the country isn’t backing away from its stand and
its exclusion from the F-35 programme and has informed the U.S. that it considers the purchase of the S-400
President Biden becoming the first president air defence system from Russia a “done deal. The Turkish Navy had
to recognize the mass killing of Armenians by plans to deploy F-35Bs aboard its new assault ship, the future TCG
the Ottoman Turks in 1915 as “genocide, the rift Anadolu. With the F-35 out of the picture, the ship, which is sched-
between the NATO allies has further widened. uled to join the fleet in 2022, does not have a jet for its carrier, but
Both countries have a lot to gain from a con- the defence department is currently revising plans and developing
structive military partnership, but neither side new solutions. According to Haluk Bayraktar, CEO of drone-maker
is budging at the moment. Baykar, the company is working on a new unmanned combat aerial
vehicle (UCAV) that will successfully land and take off on LHD
Despite Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby’s Anadolu. According to Demir, the navy is also studying the feasibility
comments that he does not expect the military of deploying “Hurjet,” an indigenous aircraft that was designed as
relationship between Washington and Ankara a jet trainer aircraft but can carry missiles and other munitions, on
to change after Biden’s comments, the rela- the warship. Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), which makes the
tionship looks more strained than at any other Hürjet, is already in discussions with the navy on the issue.
point in recent history. It may be recalled that
just weeks before Biden’s controversial com- A setback for the F-35 Programme
ments, the U.S. refused export clearance for Turkeys exit from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter project will end up
the LHTEC engines on the 30 ATAK T-129 costing the U.S. as well as other partners, say industry experts.
multi-role, all-weather attack helicopters that The overcall cost of the fighter jet is likely to go up even further
Turkey had planned on selling to Pakistan. with Turkey exiting the picture. According to Matthew Bromberg,
the head of the military engine division of Pratt & Whitney, the con-
The U.S. says the S-400 air defence system tractor for the F-35’s F135 engine the cost of the engine is likely to
from Russia is incompatible with NATO sys- go up by 3 percent without Turkey being a part of the programme.
tems and could be used by Russia to obtain “Turkish products are some of the most critical parts of the engine,
classified information on the F-35 jets. Turkey and the Turkey suppliers were high-quality low cost,” Bromberg
has all along said that as the S-400 would not said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in April.
be integrated into NATO systems, there is no
basis to the technological concerns the US Although Turkey has been removed from the programme, the supply
has over the proximity of the Russian system of engine parts will continue until 2022, as per a prior deal signed
to US equipment. with Turkish suppliers. Companies in Turkey provide 188 of nearly
There is a growing feeling in Turkey military cir- 3,000 engine part types for the fighter jet, besides 817 of the jet’s
cles that that the imposition of the Countering 24,000 airframe part types.

ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY August 2021 | 25