The U.S. Department of Defense began steps to bring back specialised F-35 fighter jet manufacturing and testing equipment from Türkiye, years after the NATO ally was kicked out of the stealth fighter program.
This move comes as worries grow about the safety of high-tech military hardware left overseas and the fear that such weapons might be controlled remotely by their makers.
The F-35 Joint Program Office ran a pricing study in October 2024 to find the best way to move the equipment from Turkish Aerospace Industries in Ankara back to Northrop Grumman’s factory in California.
The gear, which helps build and test key parts of the advanced fighter, will travel by sea in specially packed containers.
Growing Fears Over Remote Aircraft Shutdown Risk
The call to return the equipment happens as some countries worry that the U.S. might be able to disable F-35s from afar.
In Canada, Michael Byers, who leads the Outer Space Institute, warned that the planes Canada plans to buy might be shut down “with just a few keyboard strokes.”
The fear grows out of the tight grip the US has on the F-35’s software.
The U.S. has never shared the full “source code” with any buyer, not even the UK or Israel. This means every country flying the F-35 must get “mission data loads” from American computers for each flight.
Without these, the planes can still fly but lose much of their edge in battle.
Defence experts note this setup gives the US a trump card. If unhappy with an ally, Washington could cut off access to the computer help needed for the planes to work at their best. For Türkiye, booted from the program in 2019 for buying Russian S-400 air defence systems, the risk seemed all too real.
Turkish Equipment Stayed Put Despite Program Exit
One odd twist in this tale: Türkiye still has F-35 gear more than five years after being thrown out of the program.
TAI was picked as the second maker of the jet’s middle section, yet when the U.S. cut ties in 2019, the tools stayed behind. This has sparked fears about who might have seen or studied the kit in the years since.
"Every day those tools sat in Ankara was a day we couldn't fully control the program," a U.S. defence official told Breaking Defense earlier this month. The equipment includes test stands needed to check stealth parts and flight systems that can't be bought off the shelf.
Turkish workers who once built parts for the world’s most advanced fighter now watch as their work tools pack up for a sea trip halfway around the world. “We were proud to build those jets—now it’s just memories,” a former TAI employee shared with TRT World last year.
F-35 Program Shifts Away From Turkish Help
The F-35’s making has been a worldwide puzzle, with pieces built in many countries.
When Türkiye was cut out, the U.S. had to find new makers for over 1,000 parts, at a steep cost. The GAO, which watches over U.S. spending, found that each plane now costs up to $1.3 million more to build without Turkish help.
The U.S. has worked to plug these gaps. A new plant to make the middle sections that TAI once helped with is being built in Germany by Rheinmetall. Set to open this year, it aims to meet a growing hunger for the jets, with more European countries now asking to buy them.
Türkiye had hoped to get back into the program, but the U.S. has sent a clear message with its call to return the tools. The split over the Russian air defence system proved too wide to mend. Under US law, buying Russian weapons can lead to tough penalties, which Türkiye now faces.
For the F-35, losing Türkiye’s help meant a blow to the timeline and added costs.
Yet the JPO seems set on bringing back all linked gear to U.S. soil, a goal backed by many in Congress who want tighter watch over the jet’s making. The cost to move the tools likely runs into tens of millions of dollars, a drop in the bucket for the trillion-dollar F-35 plan.
As the tools make their way back west, the deal shows how fast friends can fall out over matters of trust and safety.
It also points to a hard truth in today’s arms deals: when you buy the world’s most high-tech weapons, you may never truly own them.
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