Turkey Eyes F-35 Comeback, Dumps Russia’s S-400 – Will India Buy The Abandoned Missiles? | World News
New Delhi: President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump met briefly on the sides of the NATO summit in The Hague. This meeting has now become a glare point in Washington’s military ties with Ankara.
After the summit, the Turkish President said that his country had not closed the door at the F-35 fighter plane. His comments arrived days later in Türkiye’s local air defense network, which was called “Steel Dome”.
Trump then confirmed that Erdogan implies. The US President said that a small group of Republican donor has been “working” that Türkiye has returned to F-35 times.
He didn’t give a timeline, but he said the conversations went to the technical stage.
The F-35 story was a sensitive story for both sides. In 2019, Türkiye delivered a Russian S-400 air defense system. This $ 2.5 billion agreement led to US sanctions. Pentagon froze Türkiye from the F-35 consortium. Diplomats at both ends called it a low point.
Now, the mood is changing.
Trump believes that the dead end can be solved. Speaking recorded with the assistants after the summit, Türkiye’s “signals are encouraging” and “acceleration”.
Türkiye did not activate the S-400s. They are locked in an uncertain military base. This may be the olive branch that Washington needs.
A former US official called the change in toned as “a big reversal”. Authorized, Türkiye’s Western technology ecosystem to re-enter the S-400s may be willing to reduce losses, he said.
On June 29, US ambassador Tom Barrack said that Türkiye’s sanctions on the defense sector could be lifted by the end of the year. He told Anatolia that both Erdogan and Trump “forced him for a solution”.
The insiders now say that Ankara can return to the F-35 cycle over months. This will require Turkey to permanently keep Türkiye’s S-400s or sell it to a third country.
Are names swimming? Pakistan. Even India.
No approval yet. However, Erdogan’s words show that the S-400 agreement may have run the way.
Trump sees F-35 as a strategic bridge, not a sales. He can still connect Ankara to Washington.
