Navigating the diplomatic skies: Turkiye’s path back to F-35 consortium amid S-400 controversy

Navigating the diplomatic skies: Turkiye’s path back to F-35 consortium amid S-400 controversy
A photo of Air Force's F-35 jet (AFP)
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Updated 01 February 2024
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Navigating the diplomatic skies: Turkiye’s path back to F-35 consortium amid S-400 controversy

Navigating the diplomatic skies: Turkiye’s path back to F-35 consortium amid S-400 controversy
  • Green light from Washington coincided with Turkiye formally endorsing Sweden’s NATO membership and the US administration’s notification to Congress on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to the Turkish military

ANKARA: US Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has expressed Washington’s openness to engaging in F-35 talks with Turkiye pending resolution of concerns over Ankara’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defense system.

Attention is now focused on the potential conditions for Turkiye’s return to the F-35 consortium, where it has played a significant role as a joint producer in the past.

The green light from Washington coincided with Turkiye formally endorsing Sweden’s NATO membership and the US administration’s notification to Congress on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to the Turkish military.

“We were in the process of negotiating the Patriot sale, and while those negotiations were going on, Turkiye went in another direction … Frankly, if we could resolve this S-400 issue, which we would like to do, the US would be delighted to welcome Turkiye back into the F-35 family. But we have to settle this other issue first, and while we solve it, we must also ensure that Turkiye has a strong air defense,” Nuland told Turkiye’s CNN Turk on Monday.

Her two-day official visit to Ankara was aimed at “reinvigorating” damaged ties between the two NATO allies.

As Turkiye was a significant contributor to the new generation F-35 stealth fighter jets’ joint program and played a crucial role in the production line, the framework for Ankara’s potential return is subject to debate.

In 2019, Turkiye was expelled from the F-35 program due to its acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile system, with the White House asserting that the F-35s could not coexist with a Russian intelligence collection platform.

During its involvement in the F-35 program, Turkiye contributed to the jet’s development financially, and its industry participated in producing about 900 parts for the stealth fighter.

Turkiye, as a member of the F-35 program, was projected to gain at least $12 billion by the end of the project in 2039, according to estimates by US aerospace industries company Lockheed Martin in 2013. However, it could not take delivery of two fighter jets for which it had made an advance payment of $1.4 billion.

“In theory, it is $12 billion. However, this program will last decades. How does anyone account for a program that will need spare parts and vendors for decades? It is tens of billions of dollars, which is truly mind-blowing,” Aaron Stein, expert at War on the Rocks, a platform for analysis and debate on strategy, defense and foreign affairs, told Arab News.

Prof. Mustafa Aydin, a professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, believes that the opportunity cost of Turkiye’s removal from the F-35 program is part of the intricate relationship between Turkiye-US and Turkiye-West.

“Turkiye acquired significant know-how and technological experience over the last two decades when it was involved in the fighter jet consortium, bringing industrial and economic advantages for the country itself, which in return fed back its efforts in developing its drone technology and designing its indigenous fighter jet,” he told Arab News.

Aydin said that buying jets carries substantial weight in terms of defense procurement.

“When you buy a jet, you buy at the same time a partnership along with several benefits regarding its maintenance, production and usage,” he said.

Aydin suggests that US diplomat Nuland’s remarks on the S-400s were about damage control in bilateral ties.

“I don’t expect any short-term solution for resolving that deadlock and receiving F-35s on Turkish soil. Turkiye can only rejoin the purchase and the production of F-35s if the deadlock over S-400s is resolved and the US CAATSA sanctions are lifted, which cannot happen in the short term due to the complexities attached,” he said.

“Keeping them in a depot on Turkish soil is risky in political terms. The most feasible solution was to deploy them to Incirlik air base in Turkish southern territories, with US inspections about the system’s status,” Aydin said.

On “compromise options” proposed during the Trump and Biden administrations to manage the damage caused by the S-400s on Turkiye-US relations, Stein suggests that if Ankara is ready to discuss compromises, the pressure would shift to the US, and conversations about Turkiye’s role in the program would be inevitable.

In the meantime, Aydin believes that it would be politically risky for the Turkish government to “sell” such an alternative solution to the Turkish people and convince them about the economic costs, as they may object, asserting that Turkiye is already working on developing its own fifth-generation fighter jet program, Kaan.

“After the green light given by the Congress, Ankara will begin engaging in negotiations with Lockheed Martin for the purchase details of the F-16 jets, which will also take some months in the most optimistic scenario,” he said.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency under the US Department of State released a statement about Turkiye-F16 aircraft acquisition and modernization on Jan 26: “The purchaser typically requests offsets. Any offset agreement will be defined in negotiations between the purchaser and the contractor,” hinting at potential details of the looming negotiations between the parties.

Stein does not believe that having the F-35s will change Turkiye’s status within NATO.

“The F-35 is a very capable jet, but it doesn’t replace the political will to do things NATO wants. And, for quite some time now, Ankara likes to march to a rhythm that is out of sync with most of its allies,” he said.

However, Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat and chairman of the Istanbul-based think tank EDAM, thinks that acceptance to the F-35 program would make Turkiye more capable of participating in a number of NATO missions that would use the F-35 as a key platform.

“These missions may have self-characteristics, they may be planned for a number of tactical operations that NATO may need in the future. They may be limited to countries that would have those particular capabilities. Without fifth-generation stealth jets, Turkiye would not be able to take part in those missions and there would be capability gaps between Turkiye and some other NATO allies,” he told Arab News.

According to Ulgen, Turkiye can return to the F-35 program, but this would require solutions for the S-400 dilemma. For this to happen, both sides need to demonstrate flexibility to find a solution.

“There are basically two categories of solutions. Turkiye would either cease possession of the Russian system and send it to a third country, which is not feasible and not acceptable by Russia, while in the second solution the material could remain in Turkiye but with heavy monitoring conditions attached to its presence,” he said.

Ulgen thinks that Turkiye could return to the program as a buyer but also as a manufacturer, but there are a number of costs to be covered for this to happen.

“Turkiye was a very valued manufacturer and provided a range of critical inputs for the jets. Now in the meantime after Turkiye was pulled out from the program, the manufacturer had to find some alternative suppliers, which included some costs like shifting the production line to other manufacturers,” he said.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin is to visit Turkiye on Feb. 12 to meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.


Sweden wants to pay immigrants up to $34,000 to return: govt

Updated 12 sec ago
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Sweden wants to pay immigrants up to $34,000 to return: govt

Sweden wants to pay immigrants up to $34,000 to return: govt
As of 2026, immigrants who voluntarily return to their home countries would be eligible to receive up to $34,000

STOCKHOLM: Sweden's government said Thursday it would drastically increase grants for immigrants who choose to leave the country, in order to encourage more migrants to make the choice.
As of 2026, immigrants who voluntarily return to their home countries would be eligible to receive up to 350,000 Swedish kronor ($34,000), up from the current 10,000 kronor, the right-wing government, which is propped up by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, said in a statement.


Sweden's government said Thursday it would drastically increase grants for immigrants who choose to leave the country, in order to encourage more migrants to make the choice. (Reuters/File)

Polish FM sees limit on influencing Iran after Russia missiles transfer

Polish FM sees limit on influencing Iran after Russia missiles transfer
Updated 4 min 48 sec ago
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Polish FM sees limit on influencing Iran after Russia missiles transfer

Polish FM sees limit on influencing Iran after Russia missiles transfer
  • “The trouble for Poland is that Iran is already under such severe sanctions that there is not that much more that we can do,” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said
  • “I’m disappointed, because we have a new president of Iran“

WARSAW: Poland’s foreign minister conceded Thursday that there were limits on how to influence Iran, already under heavy sanctions, after Tehran allegedly shipped short-range missiles to Russia to attack Ukraine.
Western powers this week imposed new sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation sector, including state carrier Iran Air, and Ukraine warned it may cut off relations with Tehran.
“The trouble for Poland is that Iran is already under such severe sanctions that there is not that much more that we can do,” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said when asked if Poland, a staunch backer of Ukraine, would also sever ties.
He was speaking at a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who on Tuesday said that Russia could start firing the Iranian missiles into Ukraine within weeks.
Western powers had warned Iran against the move, and Sikorski noted that it came shortly after Iranians elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, seen as a reformist within the cleric-run state.
“I’m disappointed, because we have a new president of Iran. He’s supposedly not as aggressive as the previous butcher of Tehran,” Sikorski said.
“But the policy of sending missiles and drones to use against Ukraine and also using similar equipment against Israel seems to be continuing.”
Poland enjoys a long history with Iran, which took in thousands of Polish civilians during World War II.
But as a close US ally, it has joined pressure campaigns against Iran, including agreeing to host a 2019 conference encouraged by then president Donald Trump that pressured Tehran.


Russia hit Red Cross vehicles in east Ukraine, killed 3: Zelensky

Russia hit Red Cross vehicles in east Ukraine, killed 3: Zelensky
Updated 16 min 36 sec ago
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Russia hit Red Cross vehicles in east Ukraine, killed 3: Zelensky

Russia hit Red Cross vehicles in east Ukraine, killed 3: Zelensky
  • “Today, the occupier attacked the vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross humanitarian mission in Donetsk region,” Zelensky said
  • The attack took place in the village of Virolyubivka

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a Russian attack on vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Thursday in his country’s east had killed three people.
“Today, the occupier attacked the vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross humanitarian mission in Donetsk region,” Zelensky said.
Artillery shelling killed three Ukrainian citizens working for the ICRC and wounded another two, the Ukrainian parliamentary commissioner for human rights Dmytro Lubinets said.
The attack took place in the village of Virolyubivka, a dozen of kilometers away from the front line in Donetsk.
There was no immediate comment from Russia, which routinely says it only hits military targets.
The UN Humanitarian mission to Ukraine said 50 workers were killed or injured in Ukraine in 2023, including 11 killed in the line of duty.
“Since the beginning of the year, this repeated pattern of attacks appears to have intensified,” the UN humanitarian coordinator Denise Brown said in a statement in February.


The bells are back at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

The bells are back at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
Updated 27 min 11 sec ago
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The bells are back at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

The bells are back at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
  • A convoy of trucks bearing eight restored bells pulled into the huge worksite surrounding the monument Thursday on an island in the Seine River
  • They are being blessed in a special ceremony inside the cathedral

PARIS: Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is getting its bells back, just in time for the medieval landmark’s reopening following a devastating 2019 fire.
A convoy of trucks bearing eight restored bells — the heaviest of which weighs more than 4 tons — pulled into the huge worksite surrounding the monument Thursday on an island in the Seine River.
They are being blessed in a special ceremony inside the cathedral before being hoisted to hang in its twin towers for the Dec. 8 reopening to the public.
Cathedral Rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, wearing a hardhat as he prepared to enter the cathedral and bless the bells, called them ‘’a sign that the cathedral will again resonate, and that its voice will be heard again. A sign of the call to prayer, and a sign of coming together.”
The bells will be raised one by one and tested out, but they won’t ring in full until the day of the reopening, said Philippe Jost, overseeing the massive Notre Dame reconstruction project. He called the bells’ arrival ‘’a very beautiful symbol of the cathedral’s rebirth.”
While construction on the cathedral started in the 12th century, the bronze bells damaged in the fire are from the 21st century. They were built according to historical tradition to replace older bells that had become discordant, to mark the monument’s 850th anniversary.
The cathedral’s roof and spire, which collapsed in the fire, have been replaced, and scaffolding is being gradually removed from the site.


Landmark projects, career prospects draw Filipino architects to GCC

Landmark projects, career prospects draw Filipino architects to GCC
Updated 12 September 2024
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Landmark projects, career prospects draw Filipino architects to GCC

Landmark projects, career prospects draw Filipino architects to GCC
  • Some 2,000 Filipino architects are now working in GCC countries
  • Saudi Arabia, UAE offer young professionals learning, certification

Manila: When Daryl Anasco moved to Riyadh five years ago, he was drawn by Saudi Arabia’s construction boom under Vision 2030 and its ambitious megaprojects, in which he immediately saw a window of opportunity for his career.

Fairly new to the profession and only 24 at the time, Anasco soon found himself immersed in work and projects he would not have been able to pursue in his native Bohol province in the central Philippines.

“They offer unique opportunities in my field that are not available in the Philippines ... Here in Saudi, it’s only now that I have experienced being involved in big projects. That’s one of the advantages of working here. They entrust us with big projects,” Anasco told Arab News.

There are some 2,000 Filipino architects working in GCC countries, according to data from the United Architects of the Philippines.

“They really have trust in us Filipinos. That’s my experience,” Anasco said.

“From residential I jumped to a giga-project. That’s one of the good things about working here. You’ll get to be part of big-ticket projects.”

This month, he will take the oath as a licensed architect in Riyadh, which is a significant career step that he says gives him greater confidence to seize even more opportunities in the future.

“Hopefully, I can join the biggest project in the world today, which is here in Saudi Arabia — NEOM,” he said, referring to the flagship multibillion-dollar smart city project.

“There’s a lot of job hirings here now in Saudi ... I would like to explore more.”

Cecilio Ebuenga, who left Manila for Saudi Arabia in 2004, said there has always been “room for growth” in the region for architects building their careers.

“We were given the chance to deliver our talent, our skills. We are given more roles here as professionals,” he said.

“You get recognized as a professional and it gave me more confidence.”

Ebuenga has been working with one of the biggest Saudi Arabia companies specializing in home and garden supplies.

“The working environment in Saudi is very professional. They have high regard for us Filipino architects and engineers. You can feel their respect,” he said. “We are given equal opportunity.”

New possibilities for growth have been open for Filipino architects and designers also in the UAE which, like Saudi Arabia, offers young graduates opportunities for learning and certification.

“The industry here is thriving, and there are many opportunities to grow professionally, gain experience, and be part of landmark developments,” said Precious Ann Padaong.

Padaong is a Bataan native who in 2019 found work in Dubai — home to some of the most iconic contemporary infrastructure projects, including the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

She was 24 when she moved to the UAE, where she also obtained her professional license.

“Becoming a licensed architect has greatly boosted my confidence and expanded my network,” Padaong said.

“Working here allows me to be part of something big ... I’m exposed to projects and responsibilities I never imagined I could handle. Although there is still much to learn, it’s exciting to see how far I’ve come.”