Alongside rejoining the F-35 programme Turkey has sought to buy new F-16 fighter jets from the United States.
The New Arab,
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed confidence Turkey would be readmitted to the US F-35 programme and receive the stealth fighter jets in line with “an agreement” with US President Donald Trump.
Washington booted Turkey out of its F-35 programme in 2019 and a year later imposed sanctions on Ankara over its purchase of an S-400 Russian surface-to-air missile defence system, but since Trump’s return to office, the two NATO allies appear keen to end the dispute.
“I believe that Mr. Trump will remain loyal to the agreement we made. I think the F-35s will be delivered to Turkey step-by-step during his term,” Erdogan said while returning from Azerbaijan, the Anadolu state news agency reported Saturday.
He gave no further details about the agreement but said the move was “part of a geo-economic revolution.”
“The F-35 issue is not only a military technology issue for us, but also a strong partnership issue in international platforms such as NATO,” he added.
