U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack voiced hope for progress on F-35 talks, however Turkish officers stated there aren’t any new developments concerning the S-400 air defence system.
In a current put up on X, U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack said his hope that “talks will yield a breakthrough within the coming months” that meet the safety necessities of each nations. Nevertheless, this was met by indignation from Turkish officers who said that “there have been no new developments concerning the S-400 air defence techniques, which has been placed on the agenda in current days.”
The U.S. Ambassador’s assertion signifies important progress in restoring the connection between the 2 NATO companions over the difficulty of the fighter jets, with the talks labelled because the “most fruitful conversations we’ve got had on this subject in practically a decade.”
The USA is in ongoing discussions with Türkiye concerning their want to rejoin the F-35 program and their possession of the Russian-made S-400 air protection system. As specified by U.S. legislation, Türkiye should not function nor possess the S-400 system to return to the F-35…
— Ambassador Tom Barrack (@USAMBTürkiye) December 9, 2025
But, the primary sticking level of the standing of the S-400 Triumph in Turkish service stays with neither facet showing able to make concessions. Turkish officers continued with their preliminary response by explaining that discussions stay ongoing concerning “lifting sanctions and obstacles to the F-35 procurement and re-admitting our nation to the programme.”
“Addressing the method concerning the F-35 challenge throughout the spirit of alliance, by mutual dialogue and constructive session, will contribute positively to bilateral relations,” the ministry added. Turkish Overseas Minister Hakan Fidan final week said that he believed Türkiye and the U.S. would discover a method to take away American sanctions “very quickly” permitting for the opening up of US weapons deliveries to Ankara as soon as once more.
Türkiye had been a member of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program since 2002, when the nation agreed to pay in the direction of the event of the plane, and the manufacturing of sure sub-assemblies that might go into every F-35 that might be produced. As well as, the Turkish authorities had deliberate to order 100 F-35As to switch the then ageing F-4 Phantom fleet that had been in service since 1974.
Nevertheless, the nation was ejected from this system by america in July 2019 on account of Ankara’s resolution to buy the Russian made S-400 air defence system. Following the acquisition and the start of deliveries to Türkiye, pilots coaching within the U.S. on the F-35 had been despatched dwelling, the jets initially earmarked for Türkiye had been positioned in storage, defence firms in Türkiye producing elements for the F-35 had their contracts revoked and extra sanctions had been positioned on Türkiye underneath the Countering America’s Adversaries By Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
The U.S. authorities was and stays fearful that the proximity of Russian origin radar surveillance gear to F-35 operations may assist the Russian authorities in uncovering the true radar cross part (RCS) of the fighter. This might compromise the F-35 in a number of methods, giving the Russians an edge in a future fight state of affairs, or permitting them to higher recreate the expertise that went into the F-35’s stealth capabilities.
The U.S. and allied forces take this matter extraordinarily significantly, with F-35s not on operations routinely carrying units named Luneberg lenses that connect to the physique of the fighter jet and in flip enhance the scale of the plane’s RCS. They’re designed to mirror radar waves again to the sender and maximise their perceived radar signature and thus maintain the true dimension of the F-35’s radar return a secret.
Resulting from Türkiye’s elimination from the F-35 program, relations between Washington and Ankara have been closely strained because the Turkish authorities feels as if they’ve been rebuked for making choices which can be in their very own nationwide pursuits. The S-400 had been ordered after the U.S., France and Italy rejected Turkish proposals for expertise switch and co-production necessities for each the Patriot and the SAMP-T missile techniques that these nations developed.
The Russian Ministry of Protection has launched uncommon footage of the S-400 Floor-to-Air Missile (SAM) System in motion. pic.twitter.com/SFKR0gag5S
— OSINTWarfare (@OSINTWarfare) November 22, 2025
The S-400 was chosen seemingly as a snub in the direction of these nations in response to their refusal to promote the weapons, in addition to their opposition to Türkiye’s international coverage concerning the Syrian civil battle and U.S./European assist for Kurdish teams preventing in Syria. It is very important notice the absence of any clear particulars on whether or not Türkiye was capable of acquire a expertise switch or no less than co-production of the S-400 from Russia with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan refusing to touch upon the chance.
The difficulty of the S-400 stays the important thing sticking level between Türkiye and america, with excessive stage discussions between Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. president Donald Trump over the topic. A March 2025 name between the pair noticed Trump categorical his want to finalise a number of offers with Türkiye over the sale of a batch of 40 new construct F-16s in addition to the potential for a sale of F-35s, if Erdogan agreed to U.S. calls for over the elimination of the S-400 from Turkish territory.
🇹🇷 Turkish President Erdogan:
We obtained optimistic alerts from President Trump throughout our talks. I raised the F-35 difficulty clearly and instantly.
Technical discussions are ongoing to take concrete steps — we hope each the F-35 dispute is resolved and CAATSA sanctions are lifted. pic.twitter.com/dbPU9CMblk
— Defence Index (@Defence_Index) October 8, 2025
In September, the 2 would meet in particular person on the White Home, with Turkish media speculating that the F-16 and F-35 offers could be one of many fundamental speaking factors between the 2 leaders. Shortly afterwards, Trump was questioned by a reporter on whether or not he may revive Türkiye’s cancelled F-35 deal, with Trump replying that “I may accomplish that simply if I need. We could try this. Nicely, it relies upon. [Erdoğan’s] going to do one thing for us.” seemingly referring to the elimination of sanctions and Türkiye’s rejoining of the F-35 program.
The truth that each governments are persevering with discussions on the sale of F-35s is a optimistic step from the place relations had been in previous years, nonetheless the way forward for such a sale continues to be unclear given the diametric opposition of the 2 governments on the difficulty.
Present Trajectory of the TuAF Fighter Power
Following Türkiye’s ejection from the F-35 program, Ankara has been left in a tough scenario vis-a-vis its present fighter power. At the moment the TuAF operates over 230 F-16C/D plane in a variety of variants, with most being upgraded to dam 50 and past underneath the Özgür/Özgür II improve applications.
These allow Turkish F-16s to hold a variety of home subsystems and weaponry, together with what is going to quickly be the domestically produced MURAD Lively Digital Phased Array (AESA) radar. These upgrades are nonetheless within the early levels and they don’t seem to be but typical throughout your complete F-16 fighter power.
Türkiye had expressed curiosity in shopping for 40 new construct F-16 Block 70s in addition to 79 improve kits for the remainder of its F-16 fleet in 2021, nonetheless this deal has been stalled on a variety of events by worldwide debate. Notoriously, Ankara used its approval of Swedish NATO membership as a technique to power america to lastly approve the F-16 deal, which it did in early 2024.
Since then, the Turkish authorities determined in opposition to the 79 improve kits, as a substitute specializing in the 40 new construct fighters so as to add further mass to the TuAF. But, as soon as once more the deal stalled, this time on account of ongoing disagreements between Ankara and Lockheed Martin on the prices related to the deal. Plane deliveries are presently anticipated by 2027, if the disagreement will be resolved.
The F-16 serves as the majority of the TuAF’s fighter power, but it surely doesn’t function alone. At the moment the TuAF maintains a small variety of round 30-40 F-4E Phantom fighter bombers which have stayed in service for over 50 years and want to stay in service till 2030 on the newest. The final of Türkiye’s unique Phantoms obtained an in depth set of upgrades from Israel, dubbed the Terminator 2020 variant.
Israel upgraded the plane’s avionics and the forms of munitions that may very well be carried together with Israeli origin Popeye standoff missiles, and the indigenous Roketsan SOM to be used in opposition to land and sea targets. These plane had been initially to get replaced by the F-35, however as that is not attainable Türkiye has seemed to different sources for contemporary fighter plane, together with the UK.
On Oct. 27, 2025, Ankara and London signed a deal for the sale of 20 new-build Tranche 4 Hurricane fighters to Türkiye for the value of £8 billion, with an possibility for extra. These plane shall be outfitted with weapons supplied by MBDA missile techniques, together with the famed Meteor missile, and are anticipated to see their first deliveries in 2030 on the earliest, because of the present backlog on orders from different nations.
As an order of solely 20 plane, this buy is not going to considerably change the make up of the TuAF, however it can present a stopgap collection of plane till Türkiye’s domestically produced stealth plane can take into the skies in bigger numbers.
KAAN
Türkiye’s KAAN fifth-generation fighter plane, generally referred to as the TF-X or Kaan, represents the way forward for the TuAF. This twin engined heavy fighter is meant to totally change the TuAF’s important fleet of F-16s, securing Türkiye’s skies into the long run.
The fighter goals to include comparable applied sciences used on the F-35, with Ankara leveraging their expertise within the F-35 program to create the fighter. These applied sciences embrace the superior sensor fusion seen on the F-35 together with a domestically produced AESA radar additionally being integrated into the present F-16 fleet.
In the intervening time, the prototypes are restricted to reliance on the American-made Common Electrical F110 engine utilized by the F-16 and F-15, as Türkiye presently has no domestically produced fighter jet engine. Regardless of this, the plane is seen as each a logo of nationwide delight and Ankara’s desired independence from the West and the East when it comes to its army capabilities.
Official footage of 🇹🇷 Türkiye’s KAAN fighter first flight pic.twitter.com/BNuPYeLYjn
— Fighterman_FFRC (@Fighterman_FFRC) February 21, 2024
The fighter made its maiden flight in February 2024, with a single prototype taking to the skies to show the plane’s flight traits in a 13 minute flight, additional checks befell throughout the yr extending the time of the flights and the pace of the plane. The second prototype is because of make its maiden flight in 2026, when checks will proceed.
If Türkiye can not have the F-35 perhaps they might get the subsequent smartest thing.
