Turkey eyes US green light for fighter jet engines at NATO summit

Turkey eyes US green light for fighter jet engines at NATO summit says President Donald Trump’s trip to Ankara for the July 7-8 NATO summit could help Turkey secure additional fighter jet engines, though it will not settle the F-35 dispute affecting bilateral ties. Analysts quoted by AFP link the potential progress to a promise Trump made to make President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “very happy” regarding Turkey’s bid for F110 engines and its readmission to the F-35 programme. Sinan Ulgen, director of the Istanbul think tank Edam, told AFP the likely outcome would be approval for GE F110 engines for Turkey’s KAAN fighter, with an estimate of about 40 units. Turkey has received an initial batch of 10 F110s in September and is said to be discussing 80 more with the US government, but this is reportedly stalled by lack of political clearance tied to Ankara’s 2017 purchase of Russia’s S-400 system. Washington removed Turkey from the F-35 programme in 2019 and imposed CAATSA sanctions in 2020.