Turkey defies US as Russian S-400 missile defence arrives
ANKARA - Turkey has received the rst parts of a Russian S-400 missile defence system despite opposition from the US.
e shipment arrived in an airbase in the capital Ankara yesterday, the Turkish defence ministry said.
e move will anger the US, which has warned that Turkey cannot have both the S-400 anti-aircraft defence system and US F-35 ghter jets.
Turkey and the US are Nato allies - but Turkey has also been establishing closer links with Russia.
Turkey has signed up to buying 100 US F-35 warplanes and has invested heavily in the F-35 programme. Turkish companies produce 937 of the plane's parts.
But Turkey has also pursued an increasingly independent defence policy amid strained ties with the US and Europe. It has bought Russia's advanced S-400 air defence system for $2.5bn and sent members of its armed forces to Russia for training.
US defence o cials said the S-400 is incompatible with the wider Nato air-defence system in the region.
e o cials said they did not want the F-35 jets to be near S-400 systems because they feared Russian technicians would be able to access the F-35's vulnerabilities.
e US warned that it would exclude Turkey from the F-35 programme if the S-400 deal went ahead, and warned that it could impose economic sanctions.
Turkey has argued that the two systems would be located in separate locations, and that the US was slow to o er an alternative missile defence shield.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after a meeting with US President Donald Trump that he believes the US will not impose sanctions.
Turkey has the second-largest army in Nato, a 29-member military alliance. It is one of the US's key allies, and is located in a strategic position, sharing borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran.
It has also played an important role in the Syria con ict, providing arms and military support to some rebel groups.