A defiant Turkey said it was considering “alternatives” to US fighter jets that could include Russian models or building its own aircraft a day after the United States suspended it from its programme to build and deploy advanced warplanes.The US punished Turkey for its purchase of a Russian air defence system by pushing it from a long-term programme to upgrade NATO warplanes with F-35 advanced fighter jets. The Kremlin quickly attempted to exploit the disagreement, which has already drawn Ankara closer to Moscow, offering to sell Turkey Russian fighter planes.Ismail Demir, head of Turkey’s Defence Industries, responded that “all kinds of options are on the table,” according to the official Anatolia News Agency.“Turkey will continue to evaluate alternatives,” he said.The months-long dispute had pushed already strained relations between Turkey and the US to a new low. Analysts say Washington sought to avoid having to make a decision on the matter. But after delivery of parts for the Russian S-400 missile-system began late last week, the White House was forced to act. It announced late Wednesday that it was ending Turkey’s involvement in the programme to build F-35s, citing security worries. “Turkey’s decision to buy the Russian S-400 air defence systems renders its continued involvement with the F-35 impossible,” said a statement. “The F-35 cannot co-exist with a Russian intelligence collection platform that will be used to learn about is advanced capabilities.” More sanctions mandated by the US Congress are likely coming to punish Turkey for doing business with a Russian arms industry blacklisted since the invasion and annexation of parts of Ukraine. Ankara and Washington are at odds over a number of issues, including US support for the separatist-minded Kurds in Syria. “This is another step in the unfolding disaster that is Turkish-US relations,” said Nicholas Danforth, a Turkey specialist at the German Marshall Fund. Turkey’s foreign ministry has described the removal as “unfair,” but many Turkish officials were holding out hope the damage could be mitigated. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Donald Trump share a warm rapport, and many were holding out hope that the White House would defer or suspend any moves that would severely damage Turkey’s fragile economy. “If you believe what Erdogan said Trump said to him, there won’t be sanctions,” said Mr Danforth. “If you don’t believe that, they’re coming soon.”But uncertainty remains, and many analysts were warning that powerful lobbies in Washington already hostile to Turkey would push for harsher penalties. “This is indeed uncharted terrain,” said Selim Sazak, a Turkey specialist at Brown University. “It is a game of chicken that went terribly wrong. Neither Ankara nor Washington thought that the other could go as far as it did.”Still, few other Nato members appeared as eager as the US to punish Nato. Jens Stoltenberg, speaking at the Aspen Security Conference, called Turkey an important Nato member. "As long as that issue's not solved, we need to minimise the negative consequences," he was quoted as saying.Turkey sought to purchase the S-400s after several Western countries pulled their Patriot air defence batteries from the country’s southeast in 2015 over a political dispute. Mr Erdogan has insisted the US would not give it favourable terms for the purchase of its own Patriots, and so turned to Moscow, which it was negotiating with over Syria in the absence of robust US involvement. Other Nato countries have purchased Russian weapons in the past, but Pentagon brass have argued that over time, the advanced S-400 could be used to track and monitor the F-35 and undermine its stealth capabilities to the advantage of the Russians.“Ankara backed itself into a wall over Syria, where its subsequent actions forced it into engaging with Russia, and mobilised its own public in a way that made backing out impossibly costly,” said Mr Sazak. “Ankara also overestimated the extent to which it could play Trump.”