Senior military leaders optimistic Turkey will receive American F-35 fighter jets, despite threats.
But acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Tuesday that he expected Turkey's F-35s to ultimately be delivered and was optimistic that Ankara would purchase the Patriot instead.
A small number of Turkish pilots are already training at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona on the next-generation aircraft and some of the plane's parts are manufactured in Turkey. Over the life of the program, Ankara has planned to purchase 100 F-35s, which are made by Lockheed Martin. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO Supreme Allied Commander and the head of U.S. European Command, said the issue is of broader concern outside the U.S. and Turkish relationship.
"I'm not suggesting that Turkey can't be trusted, but I am saying that you take another risk with your system -- with what is probably our most sensitive technology," he told a small group of reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday."Although they've said, even Erdogan has said, that the S-400 is a done deal, I don't personally think it's a done deal yet," he said.
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