Trump, Erdogan and the F-35 Gift: Is Turkey About to Return to America’s Stealth Club?
Trump is reportedly considering restoring Turkey to the F-35 program at the Ankara NATO summit, despite Israeli objections and old S-400 fears.
Donald Trump is heading to the NATO summit in Ankara with what may be one of the most consequential military gifts of his presidency: a possible path for Turkey to rejoin the F-35 stealth fighter program. If confirmed, the move would reverse one of the most dramatic defense ruptures between Washington and Ankara in modern NATO history.
Turkey was removed from the F-35 program in 2019 after buying Russia’s S-400 air-defense system. The U.S. fear was straightforward: if Turkey operated both the S-400 and the F-35, Russia could learn how to detect or defeat America’s most advanced stealth aircraft. At the time, even Trump’s first administration treated the risk as too large to ignore.
Now the political logic may be changing. Turkey has NATO’s second-largest military. Erdogan has become a crucial mediator in multiple conflicts. Ankara sits between Europe, Russia, the Black Sea, the Middle East and Central Asia. Trump values personal diplomacy, transactional deals and symbolic wins. Restoring Turkey to the F-35 track would be all three.
But Israel is alarmed. Netanyahu reportedly asked Trump not to sell Turkey weapons systems that would modernize its air force, especially at a time when Erdogan’s rhetoric toward Israel has grown more aggressive. Israel has long treated qualitative military superiority as a strategic red line. A Turkey with advanced stealth fighters would alter regional calculations from Syria to the eastern Mediterranean.
That is why this is not only a U.S.-Turkey story. It is an Israel-Turkey story, a NATO story, and a test of whether Trump still allows Israeli security concerns to veto his wider regional strategy. If Trump goes forward, it would signal that Ankara’s value has risen enough to outweigh old objections. If he backs down, it would show that Israel still has strong leverage over U.S. arms policy.
Congress may also resist. The S-400 issue has not disappeared. Lawmakers may demand guarantees that Russian systems are removed, isolated or permanently disabled before Turkey receives any F-35-related access. The defense industry will want sales. National-security hawks will want safeguards. Erdogan will want prestige without humiliation.
The headline says Trump may bring Erdogan an F-35 gift. The real question is whether the U.S. is buying Turkish cooperation, repairing a broken alliance, or creating the next crisis with Israel and Congress.