Turkey in talks to rejoin US F-35 fighter jet programme, envoy says

ANKARA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. is in discussions with Turkey ​regarding Ankara's rejoining the F-35 fighter ​jet programme and Washington hopes that talks will yield a breakthrough ⁠in the coming months, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey said on Wednesday.

Washington removed Ankara from Lockheed Martin's <LMT.N> advanced F-35 programme and imposed ​the sanctions in 2020 over its acquisition of ‍Russian S-400 air defence systems. Turkey ​has said the move was unjust and voiced hope that the sides could overcome the issue during U.S. President Donald Trump's second term.

"The United States is in ongoing discussions with Türkiye ⁠regarding their desire to rejoin the F-35 program and their possession of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system," said Ambassador Tom Barrack in a post on X.

Barrack said U.S. law will not permit Turkey to operate or possess the S-400 system if it wants to return to the F-35 programme. He also said the relationship between Trump ​and Turkish President Tayyip ⁠Erdogan has created a new atmosphere ⁠of cooperation, which has led to "the most fruitful conversations we have had on this topic in nearly a decade."

"Our hope is that these talks will yield a breakthrough in the coming months that meets both ‌the security requirements of the United States and ​Türkiye," he said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has told Reuters that he believed Turkey and the U.S. would find a way to remove American sanctions "very soon" and the NATO ‍allies had started working on the issue.

Turkey's possession of the S-400s has remained the main obstacle to rejoining the F-35 programme. Washington ‌says the S-400s pose a threat to its F-35 fighter ‌jets and to NATO's broader defence systems. Turkey rejected that and said the S-400s will not be integrated into NATO. Turkish officials have repeatedly rejected the idea of reversing their decision to possess S-400s to ⁠return to the F-35 programme.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever, Editing by Ece Toksabay and Thomas Derpinghaus)