With F-35, Eurofighter jets on table, Turkey cools off on F-16 deal
With Eurofighters available and President Donald Trump back in office, Ankara is reconsidering the urgency of its $23 billion F-16 deal with the United States.
Turkey’s acquisition of new F-16 fighter jets from the United States has become shrouded in uncertainty despite the two sides having agreed on the deal on principle.
Turkey tabled its bid for the new F-16s in 2020 after it was expelled in 2019 from an international consortium that manufactures next-generation F-35 fighter jets over its purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems. The US Congress officially approved the deal in January 2024 following Turkey's green light for Sweden's accession to NATO — a key foreign policy objective for the previous US administration in the face of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Merely weeks after Donald Trump's second-term win, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler announced on Nov. 21 that Ankara scaled back a $23 billion deal that initially included 40 new F-16 Block 70 fighter jets and 79 modernization kits and noted that Ankara had given up on buying the kits.
According to some analysts, several factors including cost concerns, alternative options like the Eurofighter Typhoon and ongoing tensions over the F-35 program have been stalling Turkey’s acquisition process for the F-16s.
