{"id":38592,"date":"2019-04-02T16:23:44","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T16:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/02\/turkish-pilots-will-keep-training-on-f-35s-in-arizona-despite-possibly-being-cut-from-the-program\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:29:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:29:47","slug":"turkish-pilots-will-keep-training-on-f-35s-in-arizona-despite-possibly-being-cut-from-the-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2019\/04\/02\/turkish-pilots-will-keep-training-on-f-35s-in-arizona-despite-possibly-being-cut-from-the-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish pilots will keep training on F-35s in Arizona, despite possibly being cut from the program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Turkish pilots<\/a> will continue training on the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter<\/a> out at Luke Air Force Base<\/a>, Arizona, even though the Pentagon suspended deliveries of F-35 equipment to Turkey over the country\u2019s acquisition of a Russian missile defense system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While U.S. officials say the Russian S-400 system<\/a> poses a threat to the fifth generation stealth fighter, there is no security risk to training Turkish pilots to fly the aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe training is continuing,\u201d Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews told Air Force Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concern isn\u2019t that Turkish pilots would have access to F-35 technology, but that using the F-35 alongside a Russian-made air defense system could compromise the F-35 technology by feeding data on the aircraft to foreign adversaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe S-400 would collect other types of data that would be helpful to anyone who doesn\u2019t have the F-35,” Andrews said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been very consistent on that,” he added. “The S-400 is incompatible with the F-35 because of the collection efforts and because the S-400 is a Russian-made air defense system, and it\u2019s not NATO inter-operable, which is why we\u2019ve been offering the Patriot system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Patriot surface-to-air missile system has been offered to Turkey as an alternative to the S-400, but Ankara officials have so far not been receptive to dropping the Russian technology altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first group of Turkish pilots completed their instructor training in March 2018, said Maj. Rebecca Heyse, a 56th Fighter Wing spokeswoman.<\/p>\n\n\n\t