Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Now We’re Going to Sell Stealth Fighters to Turkey
Front Page Magazine ^ | June 26, 2026 | Mark Tapson

Posted on 06/26/2026 1:09:49 PM PDT by chickenlips

For those who cling to the insistence that President Trump is always playing 5D chess with his opponents, now would be a great time to explain to the rest of us what the strategy is behind his repeated recent moves to empower our existential Islamic enemies.

First Trump prevented Israel from finishing the job with the savage terror group Hamas in Gaza, going so far as to promise to invest in developing the Palestinian territories into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” Then, after vowing to rescue the Iranian people from the oppressive fundamentalist regime, Trump stopped short of finishing that job and made a deal with the mullahs and the IRGC instead of crushing them to the last man and demanding unconditional surrender.

Now Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, who apparently remains tight with Islam apologist Tucker Carlson, are paving the way to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, which is ruled by Islamic supremacist President Recep Erdogan.

In Trump’s first term, his administration removed Turkey from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and blocked any sales or deliveries of the jets over concerns that Turkey’s Russian air defense system could collect sensitive data on the stealth fighter’s capabilities, potentially compromising it for NATO allies. Now Trump is pressing for a workaround.

Vance told reporters on Wednesday that Trump asked him and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to initiate a review to see how the United States could make the sale of the stealth fighters happen. The administration is also planning to move forward with the sale of dozens of General Electric jet engines to Turkey worth more than $700 million, technology that will power Turkey’s first indigenous combat jet program. SNIP>>>

(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: f35; islam; nato; turkey
Message from Jim Robinson:

Dear FRiends,

We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.

If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you,

Jim


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-42 next last
Good question.

Why are we selling Turkey anything more sophisticated than a broken WWI biplane?

Oh because, they are a "NATO ally" and built one of the largest mosques in the USA in Lanham, MD?

We need to kick them out of NATO and take back Constantinople and North Cyprus.

1 posted on 06/26/2026 1:09:49 PM PDT by chickenlips
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

Stupid. They are no “ally” in spite of being a NATO member.


2 posted on 06/26/2026 1:12:35 PM PDT by Wuli
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

Maybe Trump lost a bet to Erdogan on the soccer game last night?


3 posted on 06/26/2026 1:13:17 PM PDT by Eccl 10:2 (Prov 3:5 --- "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

US forces may be facing those stealth fighters in the future.


4 posted on 06/26/2026 1:15:07 PM PDT by Salman (Time to go full Pinochet, Mr President?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

During the Cold War, Iran and Turkey were both allies in containing the expansion of the Soviet Union. That time has long since past. The Russian Air Force can’t handle Ukraine’s drones. Turkey doesn’t need F-35s even though its profitable for U.S. defense companies to sell them.


5 posted on 06/26/2026 1:16:36 PM PDT by Dr. Franklin ("A republic, if you can keep it." )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips
I'm aware of no persuasive reason to sell Turkey such advanced weaponry, as (unless I'm missing something) I cannot think of a good reason to trust them with such highly classified information (NATO or not).
6 posted on 06/26/2026 1:17:47 PM PDT by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never...in nothing, great or small...Winston ChurchIill)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

After we lost yesterday?


7 posted on 06/26/2026 1:17:52 PM PDT by rktman (Patriotism not 'hateriotism' !. Enlisted USN 1967 proudly. 🇺🇸)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Franklin

This is dumb. If Biden had done this we would have called him a traitor


8 posted on 06/26/2026 1:19:09 PM PDT by gibsonguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

I agree. I was in Turkey back when it has a secular government and it was an uncertain “ally” even then. Now? It is a Muslim country seeking to dominate all others.

Really STUPID for us to sell them anything more advanced than knives and hammers.


9 posted on 06/26/2026 1:19:39 PM PDT by Mr Rogers
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T.B. Yoits

Which means they’re not as stealthy as marketed to the taxpayers.


10 posted on 06/26/2026 1:19:39 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips
..... I don't understand the logic of this ಠ~ಠ

.

11 posted on 06/26/2026 1:21:26 PM PDT by R_Kangel ("A nation of sheep will beget a nation ruled by wolves")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips
Sigh...

May I offer a Time-Honored Classic for the War Mongers...

War Pigs

Crank It!!

12 posted on 06/26/2026 1:22:01 PM PDT by sit-rep (START DEMANDING INDICTMENTS NOW!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

The delta that I see between Trump’s first term, when he banned sales of the F-35 to Turkey and now, when he wants to sell the F-35 to Turkey, is JD Vance. I was initially a big fan of Vance and his life story. Still mostly am, but his refusal to distance himself from people like Tucker and the groypers - people who openly throw ethnic slurs at Vance’s wife - is really giving me pause. I’m all for America First, and I believe Vance is too. But I’m not in favor of Islam A Close Second - I’m starting to wonder if Vance feels the same way or not.


13 posted on 06/26/2026 1:23:37 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AnotherUnixGeek

You may be right about Vance being the culprit


14 posted on 06/26/2026 1:27:50 PM PDT by gibsonguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

Big mistake.


15 posted on 06/26/2026 1:28:05 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

It is the follow up on the deal that Trump made with Erdogan for Turkey to work with the US in the Iran conflict.


16 posted on 06/26/2026 1:30:12 PM PDT by drypowder
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

I believe Turkey sold back to Russia the defense missile systems, because, the proved useless against Israel and the U.S., and lately against Ukraine.

Since the S-300 and S-400 missile defense systems are basically useless against the F-35s and F-22s, the Russian systems would not be able to gather any intelligence against those jets.

Drones and missiles have been taking out those Russian anti-missile systems as if they didn’t matter.

If Turkey is to be a NATO member, then treating them like one would be expected. But, I still don’t trust them, and the stealth jet tech could be easily passed on to Russia and our other enemies. Russia is still good friends with Turkey; but so is Trump with his buddy, Putin.


17 posted on 06/26/2026 1:30:55 PM PDT by adorno ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AnotherUnixGeek

“The delta that I see between Trump’s first term, when he banned sales of the F-35 to Turkey and now, when he wants to sell the F-35 to Turkey, is JD Vance. I was initially a big fan of Vance and his life story. Still mostly am, but his refusal to distance himself from people like Tucker and the groypers - people who openly throw ethnic slurs at Vance’s wife - is really giving me pause. I’m all for America First, and I believe Vance is too. But I’m not in favor of Islam A Close Second - I’m starting to wonder if Vance feels the same way or not.”
__________________________________________________________

Vance is largely Peter Theil’s creation. Peter Theil is not “pro-American” or even MAGA, except when he can make personal profit from them.


18 posted on 06/26/2026 1:31:24 PM PDT by Bob Wills is still the king
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

This was the plan since day one, and was part of the larger plan to bring the cost of the aircraft down.

But a lot has happened since 2005 when the F-35 first flew...there has been a lot of water over the dam.

They were, at one time friendly to us and hostile to the Soviet Union, but those times have changed.


19 posted on 06/26/2026 1:34:37 PM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chickenlips

Bad move. Turkey is now in the enemy camp with an Islamic dictator.


20 posted on 06/26/2026 1:37:47 PM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-42 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson