F-35 - USA redde for teknologioverføring som kan ende i Russland - Reuters

Det hele har sammenheng med russlands salg av S-400 raketter til Tyrkia. Det betyr overføring av teknologi fra Russland til et NATO land, men også at Russland får NATO hemmeligheter når dette systemet skal tilpasses NATOs systemer. USA har meget god grunn til å tro at F-35 på tyrkisk jord kan bety overføring av data til Russland (Red.)

Three U.S. senators move to block F-35 transfers to Turkey

Reuters Staff

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three U.S. senators introduced a measure on Thursday aimed at blocking the transfer of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Turkey, a NATO ally and one of nine partner nations involved in producing the high-tech, radar-evading aircraft.

FILE PHOTO: Israeli Air Force F-35 fighter jets fly over the Mediterranean Sea during an aerial show as part of the celebrations for Israel's Independence Day marking the 70th anniversary of the creation of the state, in Tel Aviv, Israel April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

The bill, by Republicans James Lankford and Thom Tillis, and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, comes at a time of deteriorating relations between the United States and Turkey, which supported the fight against Islamic State but has become increasingly worried about U.S. backing for Kurdish fighters in north Syria.

The three senators, in introducing the bill, issued a statement expressing concern that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had embarked on a “path of reckless governance and disregard for the rule of law.”

“Turkey’s strategic decisions regrettably fall more and more out of line with, and at times in contrast to, U.S. interests. These factors make the transfer of sensitive F-35 technology and cutting-edge capabilities to Erdogan’s regime increasingly risky,” Lankford said in the statement.

The Turkish embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Erdogan declared a state of emergency in Turkey following an attempted coup in July 2016. Since then, he has detained tens of thousands of people, cracked down on dissent and carried out purges in the military and bureaucracy. He charges that followers of a U.S.-based cleric were behind the coup attempt.