> These and many other actions were supposed to make Uncle Sam very angry and punish Erdogan. Nothing of significance happened.
Turkey was removed from the F35 program, for which they are a manufacturer. They are barred from purchasing the 100 F35s they wanted. They will lose that manufacturing position and the jobs that go with it. They have been demanding to still have the right to purchase the F35 jets - they will not be able to so long as they have the S400s.
Turkey was manufacturing about 1,000 parts for the F35. That has now been reduced to 12 as of November. It will drop to zero during 2020.
Losing access to the next generation of planes to upgrade their air force and losing their manufacturing role is significant, according to Turkey's own behavior and words on the matter (Erdogan states it very plainly that they are upset about it). The Turkish economy is a mess right now, having just finally climbed out of a recession. The unemployment rate had climbed from under 10% to 14% as of August. Clearly Turkey could use those manufacturing jobs and they know it.
See, the F-35 program is not seen as a big deal. The US said that Turkey can be allowed back in if they don't activate the S-400, Turkey went ahead and publicly began testing it.
Also, as it Turns out Turkey does have its own flourishing defence industry and the Brits are helping Turkey to actually build it's own gen 5 warplane and Russia is offering to sell some.
That's the catch with nationalism and authoritarian governments: The citizens are willing to endure economic pain in the name of patriotism and the US doesn't seem to bring much of that anyway.
The US-led world order seems to be vanishing and it's scary when you know some of the alternatives.
Turkey was removed from the F35 program, for which they are a manufacturer. They are barred from purchasing the 100 F35s they wanted. They will lose that manufacturing position and the jobs that go with it. They have been demanding to still have the right to purchase the F35 jets - they will not be able to so long as they have the S400s.
Turkey was manufacturing about 1,000 parts for the F35. That has now been reduced to 12 as of November. It will drop to zero during 2020.
Losing access to the next generation of planes to upgrade their air force and losing their manufacturing role is significant, according to Turkey's own behavior and words on the matter (Erdogan states it very plainly that they are upset about it). The Turkish economy is a mess right now, having just finally climbed out of a recession. The unemployment rate had climbed from under 10% to 14% as of August. Clearly Turkey could use those manufacturing jobs and they know it.
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