NATO Member Expects F-35 Fighters in Trump Deal

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had made progress on the long sought acquisition of F-35 fighter jets in talks with U.S. President Donald Trump during the NATO summit.

Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Defense Department and Turkish Foreign Ministry for comment.

Why It Matters

Turkey’s delivery of F‑35 jets has been halted since 2019 after Ankara acquired the Russian S‑400 air defense system.

Erdogan has cultivated close ties with Trump yet remains one of the most vocal critics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a major U.S. ally in the Middle East. If Turkey acquires F-35s it would bring them closer to parity with the air force that conducted the massive recent air campaign against Iran.

Ankara has also intensified efforts to develop an independent defense industry, aiming to reduce reliance on foreign arms suppliers amid persistent restrictions from Western allies.

What To Know

“We discussed the F-35 (fighter jet) issue. We made payments of $1.3 to 1.4 billion for F-35s, and we saw that Mr. Trump was well-intentioned about delivering them,” Erdogan told a news conference in The Hague, according to Anadolu Agency.

U.S. officials had previously said the presence of a Russian intelligence-gathering platform alongside F‑35 stealth technology is unacceptable.

“It undermines an agreement that NATO made several years ago, to begin divesting of Russian equipment. It moves in the wrong direction,” former Acting Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper said, during Trump’s first presidential term. But Trump had called the ban “not fair” lamenting the financial losses, according to Reuters.

Turkey began receiving S-400 equipment in July 2019, in a deal valued at $2.5 billion. The U.S. removed Turkey from F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, as a result.

“It is not fair to remove Turkey, a main partner, from the F-35 Program and also the claim that S-400 system would jeopardize the F-35s is baseless,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry responded in a statement.

Saudi Arabia, another key U.S. partner in the region, is also eyeing the F-35s. Israel exclusively has the fighter jets and has deployed them in its recent strikes on Iran.

What People Are Saying

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as quoted by Anadolu Agency: “Our teams are continuing work on the maintenance and modernization of our F-16s as well as on procurement related to the F-35s.”

Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) think tank in April: “Regardless of whether Turkey gets the F-35, however, we also recommend that Congress consider requiring that at least high-end U.S. weapons sales to Turkey be legally required to meet the standard of not adversely impacting Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME).”