Turkey is exploiting the changing geopolitical realities and urging the United States to lift restrictions on its purchase of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth aircraft. Meanwhile, new reports suggest that Israel is using its political heft to block any such transaction.
Speaking in a call with US President Donald Trump last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “CAATSA sanctions should be lifted, and the issues of the finalization of the F-16 procurement process and Türkiye’s re-participation in the F-35 program should be resolved to expand the defense industry cooperation between the two countries.”
The Turkish leadership has made similar calls in the past as it seeks to modernize its aging air force with new capabilities.
However, the latest Middle East Eye report claims that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has allegedly been lobbying the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to block the sale of F-35 jets to Turkey, citing concerns over Ankara’s expanding influence in Syria. The report states that Netanyahu and his advisors see Rubio as a strong ally in blocking Turkey’s acquisition of the F-35.
The report further states that two unidentified Western officials claimed that Netanyahu brought up the F-35 issue during several calls with Rubio in March and April and was likely to push Trump against it in their meeting on April 8.
While these claims could not be independently confirmed, they come at a time when Israel and Turkey are locked in a tense diplomatic battle over exerting influence in Syria after Bashar al-Assad’s fall.
Israel recently conducted air strikes on military bases that Turkey was planning to bring under its control by deploying its troops. On its part, Israel fears that if Turkey were to establish a large-scale military presence in Syria, it could impede the Israeli Air Force’s freedom of action in the region.
According to the latest reports, US President Donald Trump offered to mediate between Israel and Turkey on Netanyahu’s visit to the White House on April 8. Trump told the Israeli Prime Minister, “Any problem that you have with Turkey, I think we can solve, as long as you are reasonable, you have to be reasonable.”
There is currently no information on whether Trump and Netanyahu, who are staunch allies, discussed the F-35 sale to Turkey. However, with Donald Trump praising Erdogan and exuding optimism about his administration’s relations with Turkey, it may be tougher for Netanyahu to block the sale than he may have anticipated.
Trump said he has great relations with Erdogan and described him as “a tough guy, and he’s very smart, and he did something that nobody was able to do,” referring to an alleged orchestration of a rebellion in Syria earlier that led to the end of Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
Notably, Israel’s opposition to the sale of F-35s to Turkey is not new. In 2019, for example, reports in Israeli media stated that Israel exploited US disenchantment with Turkey’s purchase of S-400s and worked behind the scenes to ensure that the US denied the sale of F-35s to Turkey. The report said that Tel Aviv was looking to preserve its military superiority in the region.
It is also pertinent to note that the US and Israel have a long-standing agreement that states US military equipment supplied to Israel must be “superior in capability” as compared to that sold to Israel’s neighbors. This essentially means that the US weapons sales in the Middle Eastern region cannot jeopardize Israel’s “qualitative military edge.”
Currently, Israel is the only operator of the F-35s in the entire Middle East.
Turkey’s Quest For F-35 Continues
Turkey was previously a partner in the F-35 consortium, building about 900 parts for the fifth-generation stealth aircraft and making an advance payment of US$1.4 billion for the project. However, tensions between the US and Turkey arose when Ankara purchased the Russian S-400 air defense system despite fierce warnings from Washington that it could jeopardize the F-35 program.
Turkey was banished from the F-35 program following the country’s acceptance of the first S-400 in 2019. The US then sanctioned Turkey’s defense industry under the Countering of America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
However, Turkey never really gave up hope of re-entering the program and acquiring the American stealth aircraft despite the expulsion and diplomatic fallout with the US. Surprisingly, it has repeatedly called for the purchase of the F-35 even though it is working on its own fifth-generation ‘KAAN’ stealth aircraft, the first of which is expected to be delivered to the Turkish Air Force by 2028.
The Turkish quest to acquire the F-35 was reinvigorated when the US approved the sale of F-35s to Greece, Turkey’s main rival in the Mediterranean. Turkey has since intensified its efforts to acquire the fighter to close the capability gap with Greece.
In November 2024, Turkish Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler shared promising news during a session at the Plan and Budget Commission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, revealing that the US might be willing to deliver the F-35 jets to Turkey, provided ongoing diplomatic negotiations continue to progress.
Last month, Fox News reported that Donald Trump was warming up to the idea of completing the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey and selling the F-35 to Ankara if the two sides could reach a consensus that renders Turkey’s Russian S-400 system inoperable. The report noted that the US could either demand that the S-400 be disassembled or moved to a US base in Turkey.
The US position on the Turkish S-400 has remained consistent since the very beginning. In 2019, the White House said: “The F-35 cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence collection platform that will be used to learn about its advanced capabilities,” adding that the acquisition would have “detrimental impacts.”
Later, during Joe Biden’s term as President, the then Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said, “Obviously if we could get through this S-400 issue, which we would like to do, the US would be delighted to welcome (Turkey) back into the F-35 family. But we have to settle this other issue first.”
Thus, the Trump administration will likely insist that Turkey give up the Russian air defense system to qualify for an F-35 purchase.
Interestingly, while Turkey defied its NATO allies to purchase the S-400, it never activated the Russian defense system. Turkey tested S-400 radars in late 2019 and fired a test missile the following year. However, the air defense system was never inducted into duty or integrated into Turkey’s larger air defense network.
The S-400 does not even feature in the cutting-edge, domestically developed multi-layered air defense system dubbed the ‘Steel Dome’, which was announced in 2024.
While Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler clarified in 2023 that the S-400 surface-to-air missile systems that Turkey bought from Russia will remain in the army’s stockpile and be used as necessary, the advanced air defense system has not been put into operation since it was received from the Russian state exporter Rosoboronexport more than five years ago.
However, that may now be set to change. Another report in the Middle East Eye suggested that Turkey was mulling the deployment of the S-400 at the T4 military base in Syria as it seeks to establish a layered air defense system with short-, medium-, and long-range capabilities in and around the facility.
Turkey has not acknowledged or confirmed these claims. However, if they are true, it could once again complicate its efforts to acquire the F-35 that it has been religiously seeking.
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