Turkey tracked U.S.-made F-16s flying in the eastern Mediterranean Sea using Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system
The incident took place during the Eunomia joint exercise in August involving France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus.
Turkey has used the S-400 radars to track its own F-16s in the past, a move seen as hostile toward the U.S. and allies that operate the fourth-generation aircraft.
Turkey recently tested the radar components of its S-400, prompting Pompeo to visit Greece last month.
The action was one of many that spurred U.S. lawmakers to secretly block an undisclosed number of arms sales to Turkey over the last two years, Defense News reported.
After Turkey officially ordered Russia’s S-400 missile system (known to Moscow as the “F-35 killer”) the U.S. asked Turkish students — pilots and maintainers — attending F-35 training at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, and Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, to leave.
Photo credit: By Соколрус – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
