U.S. demands Turkey to abandon S-400

The U.S. State Department is demanding that ditching the Russian-made S-400 air defense systems is a precondition for Turkey rejoining the F-35 program, Reuters reported.

"There is room for Turkey to come back to the table. They know that to make this work they need to either destroy or return or somehow get rid of the S-400," the official said at a briefing.

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara will not give up Russia’s S-400 missile defense systems even if it acquires US-made Patriot systems.