F-35 fighter jet sale
\nNATO unveils billions of dollars in arms deals in Turkiye ahead of Trump summit and defence spending talks
\n washington
\nUnited States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would lift sanctions on Turkiye and decide on a potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Ankara as he began talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a NATO summit.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to be taking the sanctions off,\u201d Trump told reporters when asked about measures imposed under the Countering America\u2019s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
\nWashington imposed CAATSA sanctions on Turkiye in 2020 after Ankara acquired Russian S-400 air defence systems. The US also removed Turkiye from the F-35 fighter jet programme, a move Ankara called unjust and illegal.
\nTrump was expected to support the possible sale of F-35 jets during his visit to Ankara, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, although legal and congressional hurdles remain unresolved.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a decision we\u2019re going to make,\u201d Trump said, adding that he and Erdogan would also discuss trade.
\nNATO unveils billions in arms deals
\nMeanwhile, NATO leaders began unveiling arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars in Turkiye, signalling that they are responding to US calls for greater defence spending ahead of a summit with President Donald Trump.
\nAt a defence industry forum in Ankara, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced a series of initiatives, with the combined value of deals displayed on a large screen.
\nRutte called for a \u201crevolution\u201d in the alliance\u2019s defence industry, warning of growing military spending by Russia, as well as challenges from China, North Korea and Iran.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have the luxury of time. We need capabilities now to ensure we remain ready. The security situation demands it,\u201d Rutte said. \u201cThe hum of machinery must become a roar.\u201d
\nThe announcements were aimed at encouraging Western defence companies to increase production capacity and governments to commit to long-term orders.
\nEuropean defence industries have faced criticism for fragmentation, bureaucracy and competition between companies and countries, leaving the region heavily dependent on US weapons supplies.
\nWeak economic growth and the need to preserve welfare spending have also made higher defence budgets politically difficult.
\nThe deals, which had been mostly kept under wraps to make a splash at the summit, included European countries buying surveillance drones from US company Northrop Grumman, and NATO buying planes from Sweden\u2019s Saab.
\nSaab shares were the biggest gainers in Europe, up more than 5% as investors bet on the company benefitting from European rearmament. Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock.
\nUS defence company Lockheed Martin \u200band Germany\u2019s Rheinmetall signed a draft deal \u200cto jointly produce ATACMS missiles in Germany, a move that would mark the first non-US manufacture of the short-range ballistic missile.
\nRutte said NATO allies will invest more than $40 billion in the next five years in their anti-drone capabilities.
\nThe announcements follow Trump\u2019s repeated criticism that European allies are not spending enough on defence and rely too heavily on Washington for NATO security guarantees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
F-35 fighter jet sale NATO unveils billions of dollars in arms deals in Turkiye ahead of Trump summit and defence spending talks washington United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would lift sanctions on Turkiye and decide on a potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Ankara as he began talks with Turkish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n