Defense analysts are currently tripping over themselves to celebrate a massive breakthrough in U.S.-Turkish relations. The narrative is neat, tidy, and completely wrong. The media tells you that President Donald Trump bypassing Congress to ship General Electric F110 engines to Ankara is a "gift" that saves Turkey's homegrown KAAN stealth fighter. They tell you it keeps Turkey's strategic ambitions afloat while avoiding the messy, unresolved issue of the F-35 program.
What absolute garbage.
This isn't a diplomatic victory for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It is a masterclass in strategic containment by Washington. By handing Ankara the F110 engine, the U.S. is not enabling Turkish defense independence; it is ensuring that Turkey remains fundamentally tethered to American foreign policy for the next three decades. Turkey just traded its shot at true aerospace sovereignty for a 40-year-old propulsion system governed by American export laws.
The Sovereignty Illusion: Why the F110 is a Golden Cage
The mainstream consensus argues that the $700 million deal for 40 to 80 F110 engines is the lifeline the KAAN program desperately needs. This reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of defense procurement.
I have watched defense ministries spend billions chasing the mirage of "indigenous capability" while importing the one component they cannot build: the engine. Airframes are easy. Stealth coatings are hard, but doable. True military-grade turbofan engines? Only a tiny handful of nations can build them from scratch.
By accepting the F110, Turkey has stalled its own domestic engine project, which is currently stuck in the preliminary design phase. Why pour billions into a risky, homegrown engine when Washington is willing to hand you a proven solution over the counter?
Because the moment you accept that engine, you sign away your strategic freedom.
The F110 may be assembled under license by TUSAS Engine Industries (TEI) in Turkey, but make no mistake: the intellectual property, the supply chain for core components, and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) control remain firmly in Washington. Turkey cannot export the KAAN to a third-party country without a U.S. export license. If Ankara wants to sell the KAAN to Pakistan, Indonesia, or the Gulf States, Washington holds an absolute veto. Trump didn’t hand Erdogan a gift; he handed him a leash.
Dismantling the Stealth Lie
Let us address the engineering absurdity that the defense press completely ignores. The KAAN is marketed as a fifth-generation stealth fighter.
But the F110 is not a stealth engine. It was designed in the 1980s for the F-16 and the F-15E. It possesses a massive radar cross-section from the rear, and its thermal signature is a glaring beacon for modern infrared search and track (IRST) systems.
You cannot build a true fifth-generation, low-observable aircraft using fourth-generation propulsion architecture. The engine geometry, the exhaust nozzles, and the lack of integrated radar-blocking materials mean that any KAAN flying with an F110 is a stealth fighter in name only. It is a highly capable, ridiculously expensive fourth-generation-plus platform.
[Fourth-Gen Propulsion Architecture: F110]
└──> Exposed Exhaust Nozzles ──> High Radar Cross-Section (Rear)
└──> 1980s Thermal Dynamics ──> Massive IRST Signature
By pushing the F110 instead of letting Turkey bleed until they find a domestic or alternative solution, the U.S. ensures that Turkey’s "stealth" fleet will always be fundamentally inferior to a true fifth-generation fleet like the F-35.
The S-400 Paradox Nobody Wants to Admit
The "People Also Ask" crowd keeps begging for an answer to a fundamentally flawed question: Will the F110 deal help Turkey get back into the F-35 program?
The lazy consensus says yes, viewing this as a "stepping-stone" or a softening of Washington's stance. This completely misses the structural reality of the S-400 dispute.
The U.S. kicked Turkey out of the F-35 program because operating a Russian radar system alongside an F-35 creates a massive data-harvesting risk for Moscow. That technological reality has not changed. No matter how much Trump likes Erdogan, the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community will never allow F-35 software to operate in an environment where Russian technicians can monitor its radar signatures.
By giving Turkey the F110, Washington actually creates a permanent off-ramp for the F-35 issue. The U.S. can now say: "We gave you engines for your own plane. You don't need the F-35 anymore." This satisfies the Turkish domestic political crowd, which wants to hear about indigenous pride, while permanently locking Turkey out of the elite F-35 club. It allows Washington to maintain its strict anti-S-400 precedent without completely fracturing the southern flank of NATO.
The Real Winner: American Defense Dominance
Look at the financials. This is a $700 million deal for engines that cost roughly $10 million to $15 million a pop to manufacture. The profit margins are spectacular. More importantly, it guarantees that Turkey's main fighter fleet—which already relies heavily on the F-16—will remain dependent on American spare parts, maintenance schedules, and engineering support for the next forty years.
If Turkey had been forced to truly walk away, they would have had to pour money into Ukrainian engine partnerships, British joint ventures, or riskier domestic alternatives. That would have created a genuinely independent aerospace ecosystem outside of U.S. control.
Instead, the White House bypassed Congress, threw Ankara a shiny bone, and killed the long-term competitive threat of a truly independent Turkish defense industry. Erdogan gets a photo-op at the NATO summit. Trump gets to look like a dealmaker. But underneath the political theater, the U.S. defense establishment just successfully executed a classic corporate capture of a foreign military program.
The KAAN will fly, but it will fly on Washington’s terms, using Washington's permission slips, carrying Washington's baggage. Stop calling it a gift. It is the ultimate geopolitical checkmate.
