Trump Moves to Sell Turkey $700M in Jet Engines Ahead of NATO Summit

A $700 million bet on alliance repair

The Trump administration is preparing to approve the sale of roughly 80 General Electric F110-GE-129 engines to Turkey, a package worth more than $700 million, despite reservations from at least one senior congressional Democrat.reuters +1 The engines will power Turkey's first indigenous combat aircraft, the KAAN stealth fighter, which completed its maiden flight in February 2024.defencesecurityasia Timing is deliberate: the formal State Department notification to Congress is expected in the coming days, just ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7–8 — a summit President Trump says he will attend primarily out of respect for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.algemeiner +1

Congress objects, but the White House presses ahead

Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, raised objections during the informal congressional review and has not cleared the package, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.algemeiner Those objections are not legally binding — U.S. law permits an administration to formally notify Congress and proceed over holds — and the Trump White House has bypassed such objections on other arms deals.algemeiner The friction tracks back to 2019, when Turkey purchased Russia's S-400 air-defense system, triggering its expulsion from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and straining bilateral ties for years.algemeiner +1 Vice President JD Vance confirmed on Wednesday that the administration was actively reviewing the legal pathway for eventual F-35 sales to Turkey, describing it as a directive from the president.algemeiner

KAAN's production lifeline

For Turkish aerospace ambitions, the engine package is substantive, not symbolic. The KAAN program was designed from the outset to use GE F110 engines for its early production blocks, with Turkey's domestically developed TF35000 turbofan — under development at engine firm TEI — planned for integration into later variants around 2032.turdef +1 The 80-engine quantity is understood to cover prototypes, expanded flight testing, and initial low-rate serial production, enabling Air Force deliveries in the 2028–2030 window.defencesecurityasia +1 A prolonged hold on the sale had become a visible bottleneck: Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan publicly complained about the delays last year, drawing attention to the degree to which Turkey's flagship national defense program depended on Washington's approval at a critical juncture.turdef

What Trump and Rutte signaled at the White House

Speaking to reporters before a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday, Trump said he would "probably do something" to make Erdoğan happy when asked whether he was arriving in Ankara with a diplomatic gift — widely interpreted as a reference to both the engine sale and a possible F-35 opening.dailysabah Rutte, who presented charts showing a surge in European defense spending to defuse the president's complaints about burden-sharing, noted Turkey's "huge" defense industrial base during the same exchange.dailysabah +1 The Ankara summit is expected to address alliance burden-sharing, Ukraine support, and the U.S.-Iran conflict; analysts say the administration wants at least one contentious Turkish defense file resolved before the two leaders meet for bilateral talks.turdef +1