President Trump said that the US will sell F-35 fighters to S-400 owner India. This decision will contradict the US’s CAATSA decision to Turkiye over the S-400.
US President Donald Trump and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a joint press conference at the White House. "Beginning this year, we will expand military sales to India by several billion dollars. "We are also paving the way for India to eventually receive F-35 stealth fighters," Trump said at the conferance.
Since 2008, India has pledged to acquire about $20 billion worth of US defence goods. Last year, after more than six years of deliberation, it agreed to buy 31 MQ-9B SeaGuardian and SkyGuardian UAVs. Reuters, citing the US Congressional Research Service, reported that India is expected to spend more than $200 billion over the next decade to modernise its military.
On the other hand, Trump’s decision creates new question marks on Turkish-US relations over the F-35 acquisition.
Turkiye was removed from the F-35 production and acquisition programme due to its decision to acquire Russian S-400 Air Defence Systems. President Trump, during his previous presidential term, acknowledged the US’ fault in this manner but implemented the CAATSA Sanctions, which removed Turkiye from the programme.
