Turkey's S-400 Air Defense System May Have Tracked US F-35 and F-22

Turkey's S-400 air defense system (ADS) may have tracked U.S.-made F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters in flights over the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Two batteries of the S-400 ADS are located at Mürted Lanud close to the city of Ankara. The distance from the Mürted Lanud to the Black Sea region ranges from 170 - 200 km, which means the trajectories of the two stealth jet fighters are within the S-400 radar range, some news outlets reported Tuesday.

AviaPro news agency said the S-400 radar system had the opportunity to 'detect' the presence of U.S. stealth fighter jets at least thrice. Russia’s TASS also reported today that a Turkish defense ministry official “confirmed” Ankara’s testing of its S-400s against U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets last year. "Yes, such trials have indeed taken place last November," the source allegedly said.

The U.S.-Turkey tensions nosedived after the latter bought the S-400 systems from Russia for $2.5 billion in 2017. Washington’s attempts to persuade Ankara to ditch the systems went in vain. Soon after Russia began shipping the S-400s to Turkey in July 2019, the U.S. struck off Turkey’s name from the list of F-35 program partners.