Pentagon Will Raid F-35 Spare Parts Budget To Help Pay For Kicking Turkey Out Of The Program
The Pentagon says it needs hundreds of millions in extra funds to find new suppliers for critical parts for the Joint Strike Fighters.
By Joseph TrevithickJuly 11, 2019
The War Zone
The Pentagon says it needs more than $200 million to help find new suppliers for various components for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter due to the "potential application of sanctions" on unspecified "foreign countries," almost certainly a reference to Turkey. Last month, senior U.S. military officials outlined a roadmap for how they planned to kick Turkey out of the F-35 program, including ending the roles that numerous Turkish companies play in the construction of the stealthy jets, over the Turkish government's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system. But the plan is to shift those funds from an account set aside to buy spare parts for these aircraft, which has been a major contributor to the abysmal readiness rates for all three F-35 variants across the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/28940/pentagon-will-raid-f-35-spare-parts-budget-to-help-pay-for-kicking-turkey-out-of-the-program
