Turkey Set for Six F-35 Jets in Trump-Signaled Ban Lift

Turkey is projected to receive an initial six F-35 jets from the United States if President Donald Trump reverses the standing sale ban, Bloomberg reported Wednesday citing Turkish officials, after Trump told reporters at the NATO summit in Ankara that his inclination is to approve the sale because Ankara has helped Washington in many different ways. Trump said Tuesday he would lift Turkey sanctions imposed under the 2020 CAATSA law and would consider Turkey's F-35 request, calling the aircraft the best plane by far. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had cautioned publicly against giving Turkey F-35s as destabilizing to the region, citing Erdogan's rhetoric against Israel and Turkey's operation of the Russian S-400 system. Turkey originally sought roughly 40 aircraft before its 2019 removal from the joint program, and any renewed sale would require a presidential determination that Ankara no longer operates the S-400.