- Romania is the latest NATO member to announce the purchase of the F-35 stealth fighter.
- More allies are buying F-35s, but Turkey, one of NATO’s largest militaries, cannot.
- Turkey is excluded from the program because it chose to purchase Russian-made air defense systems.
Here are some signs that the world has changed since the Cold War. A former Warsaw Pact country is buying US stealth fighters, and the country with her second largest army in NATO is buying Russian anti-aircraft missiles.
50 years ago, bought by romania The latest American-made fighter may have been laughed at in Washington and inspired Moscow to send tanks to the streets of Bucharest.
And who could have imagined that in 1973 Turkey would choose advanced Russia? surface-to-air missile Did you miss your chance to buy that US jet when the Turks and Russians fought a dozen wars between the 16th and 20th centuries?
“It remains remarkable to me that Romania now operates F-35s but Turkey does not,” said Aaron Stein, chief content officer at defense news website War on the Rocks. said. murmured “The purchase of the S-400 remains a mystery.
A MiG-21 jet of the Romanian Air Force at an airshow in July 2017 in Romania.
US Air Force/Sgt.Jonathan Snyder
Romania’s announcement to buy the F-35 in early April would have come as a shock to Nixon and Brezhnev, but it comes as little surprise today. Romania was a satellite of the Soviet Union, but pursued a highly independent foreign policy from the 1960s until the collapse of the Soviet Union, and in 2004 she joined NATO.
Like other European nations with long memories of Russian hegemony and a vivid fear that Ukraine is not Vladimir Putin’s last victim, Romania is looking for advanced weapons like the F-35.
Romania has yet to reveal how many F-35s it will buy or when it will receive them, but it would be logical to procure the aircraft that at least 12 other NATO countries have or are likely to buy. At least it shows that former Warsaw Pact members are now firmly in the West.
For some of the West, Turkey’s choice decision S-400 on F-35 just don’t count. One of his first partners in the US-led F-35 program, Turkey should have been one of the first countries to acquire a state-of-the-art stealth fighter.
But Ankara was pulled from the program after Washington could not accept a scenario in which Turkey would operate both F-35s and Russian missiles designed to shoot down F-35s.
Turkish S-400 air defense system during testing at the Ankara Air Force Base in November 2019.
Getty Images
“Ankara’s choice of an air defense system over the F-35 remains baffling to me,” said Stein, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute. Said in a follow-up tweet.
Yet Turkey believes it can operate both systems without compromising the F-35’s secrecy. Ankara still wants the plane, at least his $1.4 billion donated to the program.
“They either give us the plane or they give us the money,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. swore 2021 years.
The F-35/S-400 controversy shows Turkey’s odd position in NATO since joining NATO in 1952. During the Cold War, Turkey’s strategic position at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, the Soviet ability to contain the Black Sea. The fleet and its large army combined to become NATO’s southeastern anchor.
However, as the name suggests, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is primarily a European and North American alliance. Most of Turkey is geographically located in Asia, with only 3% of its territory on the European side of the Bosphorus, including most of Istanbul.
Putin and Erdogan inspect a Russian Su-57 fighter jet at the MAKS airshow in Russia in August 2019.
Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
In an alliance made up mostly of democracies, Turkey 3 military coups Between 1960 and 1980 – and the supposed 2016 coup attempt. (Prevent future coups) may be the reason Erdogan wants weapons that can shoot down Western jets.)
Although essentially already a member of the European military alliance, Turkey’s future prospects Joining the European Union Despite hard lobbying since 2005, it still looks dim. Nevertheless, NATO still needs Turkey. Ankara is one of the alliance’s largest militaries and a Russian opponent in the Mediterranean, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.
The US has blocked Turkey’s F-35 program, but Washington has announced a $259 million deal to upgrade Turkey’s F-16 fighter jets despite objections from US lawmakers. Turkey’s vote is required for Sweden to join NATO.
vote show The majority of Turks still want to join the EU. Some influential Turks say they don’t really need the S-400 if Turkey can build its own anti-aircraft missiles.And Erdogan – while facing now tough re-election campaign — While you may feel the need to stand firm on the F-35 issue, that doesn’t mean that the warm relationship between Turkey and Russia will become a lasting romance.
Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master’s degree in political science.follow him twitter and LinkedIn.