US Defense Secretary Mark Esper hopes Turkey would abandon the S-400 air defence system so it could return to the F-35 program
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper holds a media briefing at the Pentagon August 28, 2019 in Arlington, Virginia.
"I’ve been very clear in both my public comments and privately with my Turkish counterpart: it’s either the F-35 or the S-400. It’s not both. It’s not park one in the garage, and roll the other one out. It’s one or the other," Esper said. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced reluctance to penalise Turkey over its purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile defence system, doing so when announcing Ankara's suspension from the program in July.
Trump blames the Obama administration for the current row over its refusal to sign a deal with Turkey to sell it American defence firm Raytheon's Patriot missile system. Sensing that its protracted efforts to purchase an air defence missile system from the ally US was not heading towards success, Turkey in April 2017 signed a contract with Russia to acquire the S-400.
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