Trump hints at F-35 breakthrough with Turkey ahead of NATO summit

WASHINGTON/ANKARA — US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signaled a possible easing of long-running defense tensions with Turkey, raising prospects for expanded arms sales ahead of the July 7 NATO summit in Ankara.

Speaking alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump hinted at a possible breakthrough in a long-stalled dispute over Turkey's possession of Russia's S-400 air defense system, which remains the last major thorn in US-Turkey strategic ties.

Trump expressed optimism on Wednesday when asked by a reporter whether the two leaders could agree on a framework that would allow Turkey to finally obtain long-shelved F-35 fighter jets from the United States, which Washington blocked Ankara from receiving in 2019 after Erdogan's government acquired the S-400 from Moscow.

“He’s a strong member of NATO. I'm going to probably do something that's going to make him very happy,” Trump replied, referring to the Turkish president as “a respected man, a respected leader, and has been a friend of mine.”

In the same Oval Office meeting, Vice President JD Vance said Pentagon officials under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were reviewing whether Turkey had met the legal criteria to obtain the F-35. "We will work it out," Trump interjected.

Trial balloon

The F-35s aren't the only major US military hardware deal with Ankara that has been blocked in recent years. In late 2020, Congress passed the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), imposing sanctions on Turkey’s defense procurement agency in response to Ankara’s acquisition of Russia's S-400.

The sanctions continue to restrict major defense industry transactions between the two NATO allies, including export licenses for US-made jet engines needed for Turkey to develop its home-grown fifth-generation KAAN fighter aircraft. KAAN, developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries, is designed to reduce reliance on foreign platforms, such as Ankara's aging fleet of US-made F-16s.

A proposal by the State Department to sell Ankara roughly $700 million worth of F-110 engines for Turkey's KAAN fighter has been stalled since the imposition of CAATSA sanctions in 2020. 

Earlier this week, however, the Trump administration notified key lawmakers in Congress that it was moving ahead with that sale anyway.

Shortly after Trump’s remarks in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), accused the US administration of skirting Congress to push through the $700 million sale, which was first reported by Reuters. 

“Late yesterday, the administration informed me it would once again bypass congressional review for more than $700 million in defense articles to the Turkish military,” Meeks said in a statement on Wednesday. The congressman added that in bypassing the approval process, the administration "did not invoke any emergency authority, did not present a written rationale, and for months refused to make a good-faith effort to brief me on implications of the sale."

CAATSA restrictions

A direct commercial sale of F-110 engines would likely run up against the CAATSA sanctions, which blacklisted Turkey’s state-run defense procurement agency over Ankara’s 2017 purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile defense system. The Turkish agency, known as the SSB, is the licensed end-user for the KAAN fighter jet program.

“There is the issue of the F-35s and the KAAN fighter jet engines, whose license is suspended in Congress,” Fidan said during Erdogan’s visit to Washington in September 2025. “Those licenses must be activated and the engines delivered so that KAAN's production can move forward,” he added.

The engine sale appeared to mark a trial balloon by the Trump administration ahead of the summit, hinting at a potential new opening in US-Turkey defense ties. But Ankara’s ambitions to return to the F-35 program remain the larger unresolved legal and political test.

Engine sales are “the lowest-hanging fruit,” Gonul Tol, founding director of the Middle East Institute’s Turkey program, told Al-Monitor, adding that she wasn't expecting major opposition to the sale from the US Congress.

The bigger test, meanwhile, remains whether Washington will lift CAATSA sanctions and clear a path for Turkey’s return to the F-35 program. CAATSA explicitly forbids the US from providing the F-35 to Turkey until it ceases possession of its S-400 system. Late last year, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said there had been significant progress in discussions on how to resolve the dispute. But what, if anything, the Turkish government has agreed to regarding the S-400 remains unclear.

Vance’s remarks showed that the issue remains largely in Ankara’s hands, according to Tol. “The ball is in Turkey’s court. It has to get rid of the S-400s,” she said. 

Although both Turkish and US officials remain tight-lipped on the possible solution to the issue, one option that Washington and Ankara may agree on stands out: dismantling and transferring the S-400 systems to the US-controlled section of Incirlik Air Base on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast or to a Turkish military facility abroad, as a way to address the “cease possession” requirement under US law. Turkey maintains overseas military facilities in countries including Qatar, Somalia and Northern Cyprus.