Onlykashmir.in News Desk
United States President Donald Trump said Washington is open to considering the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey, a significant potential shift in a defence relationship that has been strained since Ankara was removed from the fighter jet programme in 2019. Trump made the remarks alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after arriving in Ankara for the NATO Summit, describing the F-35 as, in his words, the best plane by far.
Turkey was expelled from the multinational F-35 programme after it proceeded with the purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defence system, a move Washington argued posed a security risk to the fifth generation fighter’s sensitive technology. The rupture cost Turkey’s defence industry billions of dollars in lost contracts and left Ankara’s air force reliant on older generation aircraft even as regional rivals modernised their fleets. Trump’s comments suggest the door may be reopening for a resolution to one of the more contentious issues in the two NATO allies’ defence relationship.
President Trump arrived in the Turkish capital on Tuesday and was received by President Erdogan ahead of the summit’s formal proceedings. The two leaders were expected to hold bilateral talks at the presidential palace before joining other alliance leaders for an official dinner, with the main summit session scheduled for July 8. The Ankara summit comes at a moment of heightened tension within the alliance, with member states grappling with questions over defence spending commitments, the war in Ukraine, and the broader security architecture of the Euro-Atlantic region.
A potential F-35 deal for Turkey would mark a notable recalibration of US-Turkey defence ties, which have oscillated between cooperation and friction over the past decade on issues ranging from Syria policy to Ankara’s independent foreign policy posture in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey operates the second largest military in NATO after the United States, and restoring its access to the F-35 would be seen as strengthening the alliance’s collective airpower at a time when Russia’s war in Ukraine has sharpened focus on NATO’s eastern and southern flanks.
Officials on both sides have not indicated a firm timeline for any formal announcement, and any sale would likely require Congressional review given the sensitivities involved in reversing an expulsion tied to national security concerns. Analysts note that the S-400 systems already in Turkish possession remain a central sticking point that would need to be addressed before any transfer of F-35 jets could proceed.
