Turkey being kicked out of the F-35 program is illegal by the letter of the contract...

via Defense News.

There are two tiers of participation in the F-35 program. The first-tier members are considered “partners” in the program, which comes with direct involvement in the joint program office. That includes having national representatives stationed in the JPO, weighing in on decisions about future capabilities, and deciding what future industrial participation looks like.

And that industrial participation is important — building parts of the jet that go into the global supply chain is expected to net the partner nations billions in revenue over the lifetime of the program. The partners are made up of the first nine nations to sign onto the program: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The second tier consists of “customers” for the jet, comprising nations that came later to the program. Those nations command less industrial participation, lack voting power on what future development of the jet looks like, and do not have officials assigned to the JPO. That tier is made up of Israel, South Korea, Belgium and Japan, but could expand in the future with Finland, Singapore and other nations.

Story here. 

Wow.  I've read the Turks complaints that as partners they can't be kicked out of the F-35 program.

After reading this article, at least on the surface it appears that they're correct.

Unless there is specific statements about buying Russian equipment then I don't see how kicking them out of the program is legal.

This is the stuff that makes lawyers millionaires but I don't see how the US will avoid paying the Turks back for their investment costs and potential business losses.

This is interesting.

The Japanese are seeking partnership and they're about to become the second biggest operator of the airplane but will be denied?

Simply amazing.

This scheme is really starting to fray at the edges.  Lockheed Martin investors should be nervous.