US senator vows to maintain block on Turkey’s F-35 jets despite Erdoğan’s push to rejoin program

14.07.2025

By Turkish Minute

Source:https://www.turkishminute.com/2025/07/14/us-senator-vows-to-maintain-block-on-turkeys-f-35-jets-despite-erdogans-push-to-rejoin-program/

US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch said last Wednesday that he will continue to block the transfer of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent remarks expressing hope for renewed participation in the program, according to a report by Aviation Week.

Speaking during a hearing for Kimberly Guilfoyle, President Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Greece, Risch confirmed that he placed the hold on six completed F-35As ordered by Turkey and emphasized that his position remains unchanged.

“I’ve got a hold on and I’m going to continue to have that hold for a lot of different reasons,” Risch said, according to a report by Aviation Week. “As far as Turkey is concerned, I’m the one that put the hold on the F-35s, and the F-35s they bought and paid for are still sitting in the United States.”

His comments came just two weeks after Erdoğan said Turkey had not given up on the F-35 program and was engaging in technical talks with US counterparts to resolve the issue. “We are discussing our intention to return to the program with our counterparts,” Erdoğan said on June 26. “God willing, we will make progress.”

Turkey was removed from the F-35 program in 2019 after purchasing the Russian-made S-400 air defense system, which Washington said posed a threat to the aircraft’s stealth capabilities. The move violated the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and triggered Section 1245 of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which prohibits the transfer of F-35s to Turkey as long as it possesses the S-400.

Although Risch cannot unilaterally veto the sale, his role as committee chair gives him the authority to place a “hold” on arms transfers, effectively blocking them indefinitely.

Overcoming this legal hurdle is more complex than lifting CAATSA sanctions alone. Section 1245 of the NDAA provides no waiver authority to the president. The law only allows a transfer if the secretaries of State and Defense jointly certify to Congress that Turkey no longer possesses the S-400 and will not attempt to reacquire it.

According to a report by the Greek Kathimerini daily, US legal teams are reportedly exploring alternative interpretations of the law, such as putting the S-400s in storage, disabling them or transferring them to a third party — moves that could be used to argue Turkey no longer “possesses” the system.

In the meantime Turkey has turned to other options to modernize its air force, including an effort to acquire 40 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from a European consortium comprising the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain.