While Ankara hoped to return to the F-35 program, Washington sent a clear message – the production and testing equipment for the stealth fighters located in Turkey must return to the US.
The US Department of Defense’s F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) has conducted a market survey to determine whether to relocate production and testing equipment from Turkish facilities to the US.
Reportedly, in October 2024, the JPO conducted a price survey for the return to the US of manufacturing used in the production and testing of the F-35 located at the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) base in Ankara to the Northrop Grumman aircraft manufacturing facility in California.
The equipment is already scheduled to be shipped by sea to California. The JPO plans to work with contractors to dismantle, package, and transport the equipment in Turkey in accordance with American and international transportation standards.
All equipment will be placed in containers for sea transport. It will also be recorded and protected from disassembly to storage.
NATO member Turkey was one of the eight original international partners in the F-35 program but was expelled in July 2019 for acquiring the Russian S-400 air defense system, which Washington viewed as a security risk to the F-35’s advanced technologies.
The S-400 could compromise the F-35’s stealth capabilities, but Turkey has been unmovable in its position to keep the Russian-made air defense system. As a result, Turkey was removed from the program and sanctions were imposed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
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