The White House issued a statement Wednesday confirming the move, which Washington had threatened for months.

"Turkey's decision to purchase Russian S-400 air defense systems renders its continued involvement with the F-35 impossible," the White House statement read.

"The F-35 cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence-collection platform that will be used to learn about its advanced capabilities," the statement claimed.

"Turkey has been a longstanding and trusted partner and NATO Ally for over 65 years, but accepting the S-400 undermines the commitments all NATO Allies made to each other to move away from Russian systems," the statement continued.

Shortly after the statement was released, the Pentagon held a rare on-camera press conference to explain the process moving forward, with Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Ellen Lord and Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy David Trachtenberg.

"Turkey cannot field a Russian intelligence-collection platform in proximity to where the F-35 program makes repairs, and houses the F-35," Lord said.

"Much of the F-35′s strength lies in its stealth capabilities, so the ability to detect those capabilities would jeopardize the long term security of the F-35 program. We seek only to protect the long term security of the F-35 program."

Turkey, a partner in the F-35 program that helped fund the development of the jet, planned to buy 100 F-35As.

Though Turkey formally owns its jets, the U.S. has said it has the power to keep the planes from moving to Turkish soil and intends to keep all four existing Turkish jets from leaving the U.S.

Lord avoided saying that the door was shut on Turkey returning to the program should the S-400 be removed from its soil and repeatedly used the term suspension to characterize Turkey's status in the F-35 program. 

"At this point, the Turks have made a decision. We have said the F-35 and S-400 are incompatible. We will work forward at this point to unwind the relationship," she said.

ILKHA