Turkey F110 Engines Deal Nears as Trump Visits Ankara

Turkey F110 – (Web Desk) – Turkey F110 engines are back in the spotlight as US President Donald Trump heads to Ankara for the NATO summit this week. Analysts say the visit could unlock dozens of jet engines Turkey has been waiting for, though it won’t fix the bigger F-35 problem between the two countries.

The NATO summit runs from July 7 to 8. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hosting leaders from all 32 member countries.

Last month, Trump said he would make Erdogan “very happy” when a reporter asked about the engines and Turkey’s hopes of rejoining the F-35 program.

Experts believe this means Washington may finally release the F110 engines Turkey needs for its KAAN jet project.

Sinan Ulgen, who leads the Edam think tank in Istanbul, said around 40 engines could get the green light. He said Turkey has already built prototypes using the F110 engine, but needs more units to build additional jets.

KAAN is Turkey’s own stealth fighter, built by Turkish Aerospace Industries. It’s meant to replace the country’s aging F-16 fleet. If it succeeds, Turkey would join a small group of nations, including the US, China, and Russia, that build fifth-generation fighter jets.

Turkey does plan to build its own engine someday. But that design is still early in development, so the F110 remains the practical choice for now.

Turkey got its first 10 F110 engines back in September. Talks for 80 more are still going on.

The holdup traces back to 2017, when Turkey bought Russia’s S-400 missile system. That move angered the US, which then kicked Turkey out of the F-35 program in 2019 and added CAATSA sanctions the following year.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan admitted last September that Congress still needs to approve the KAAN engines, even though Turkey originally said the jet would be fully homemade.

Being shut out of the F-35 deal pushed Turkey to build its own defense industry instead. As one analyst put it, the money once meant for F-35 jets is now going straight into KAAN’s development.

So far, only Indonesia has ordered the KAAN jet, in a $10 billion deal for 48 aircraft. But some experts think the NATO summit could bring new buyers, possibly from Spain or the Gulf, especially after Europe’s own joint fighter program hit trouble.

Still, most experts don’t expect quick progress on the F-35 issue. Congress would need Turkey to give up its S-400 system first, and Turkey isn’t willing to hand it back to Russia or sell it elsewhere without Moscow’s approval.

One former US official believes Trump could still declare the dispute over through executive action, though getting Congress to lift the sanctions would take real political effort, especially with midterm elections coming up.