US–Turkey race to break deadlock on F-35 return

ANKARA

The US is in discussions with Turkey regarding Ankara’s rejoining the F-35 fighter jet programme and Washington hopes that talks will yield a breakthrough in the coming months, the US ambassador to Turkey said on Wednesday.

Washington removed Ankara from Lockheed Martin’s advanced F-35 programme and imposed the sanctions in 2020 over its acquisition of Russian S-400 air defence systems. Turkey has said the move was unjust and voiced hope that the sides could overcome the issue during US President Donald Trump’s second term.

“The United States is in ongoing discussions with Turkey regarding their desire to rejoin the F-35 program and their possession of the Russian-made S-400 air defence system,” said Ambassador Tom Barrack in a post on X.

Barrack said US law will not permit Turkey to operate or possess the S-400 system if it wants to return to the F-35 programme. He also said the relationship between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has created a new atmosphere of cooperation, which has led to “the most fruitful conversations we have had on this topic in nearly a decade.”

“Our hope is that these talks will yield a breakthrough in the coming months that meets both the security requirements of the United States and Turkey,” he said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said that he believed Turkey and the US would find a way to remove American sanctions “very soon” and the NATO allies had started working on the issue.

Turkey’s possession of the S-400s has remained the main obstacle to rejoining the F-35 programme.

Washington says the S-400s pose a threat to its F-35 fighter jets and to NATO’s broader defence systems. Turkey rejected that and said the S-400s will not be integrated into NATO.

Turkish officials have repeatedly rejected the idea of reversing their decision to possess S-400s to return to the F-35 programme.