¡Bien hecho! USAF se queda con los 6 F-35 que iban a Turquía

US Air Force to keep six F-35 jets sold to Turkey

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To play off of the famous line from the “Soup Nazi” of Seinfeld fame, “No F-35 for you.”

NATO’s arguably worst partner state has been denied the F-35 by the United States, and the move comes as both expensive and advantageous for US aerospace mogul Lockheed Martin.

Six multirole aircraft were earmarked for Turkey, but the Eurasian nation’s purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems effectively made sure that the aircraft would never make it to their final destination.

According to Ekathimerini, the US Senate Armed Services Committee said on Thursday it had authorized $9.1 billion to obtain the F-35s alongside an existing order.

It is unknown which branch the Turkish F-35s will go to, though it is likely that they will be brought into the US Air Force’s inventory due to them lacking the more Navy and Marine Corps-friendly features.

The ninety-five F-35s already being procured will actually exceed the United States’ desired (budgetary) number by fourteen, and the six that were supposed to go to Turkey will likely require some exchanges in avionics and other “export” features to bring the aircraft up to spec.