Saudi Arabia’s growing interest in Turkey’s next-generation KAAN fighter jet program is attracting pushback from the administration of US President Donald Trump, which views the potential deal as cutting into Washington’s share of the kingdom’s arms market, Middle East Eye reported, citing current and former US officials.
US officials operating under President Trump’s deal-making diplomacy agenda have sought clarity from Riyadh about its defense talks with regional countries, including Turkey, the report said. While Saudi Arabia assured Washington it would not purchase Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jet after reports emerged it could convert billions of dollars in loans to Islamabad for the warplane, US officials have not received similar guarantees about the kingdom’s potential participation in the KAAN program.
“The message to the Saudis has been, ‘What need do you feel is not being met by the US, that you need to go to Turkey for the KAAN?’” a US official familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Middle East Eye. “This administration wants to be the sole provider, putting American exports first.”
The friction comes after Trump announced in November that Saudi Arabia would be allowed to purchase advanced F-35 warplanes during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the White House. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the same month that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised Saudi Arabia would receive a lesser version of the F-35 than Israel’s, in line with Israel’s longstanding policy of maintaining its Qualitative Military Edge, the US-backed framework aimed at preserving Israel’s military advantage over neighboring states.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during a visit to Saudi Arabia in early February that a joint investment in KAAN “could be signed at any moment.” A model of the KAAN was displayed at the World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh this month, emblazoned with a Saudi flag.
Mehmet Demiroğlu, general manager of Turkish Aerospace Industries, told Breaking Defense last week that a deal could involve a direct purchase of around 20 warplanes for the kingdom, described as “a small squadron,” or, if Saudi Arabia opts for a final assembly line, the order would need to reach at least 50 aircraft.
Arda Mevlütoğlu, a defense and aviation analyst, wrote in an analysis for Turkiye Today that options discussed include a direct purchase of roughly 20 jets, licensed production and, depending on the order size, the establishment of a final assembly line in Saudi Arabia. He said the most plausible first phase is a tiered approach, with initial direct procurement combined with selective local workshare covering structures, maintenance, repair and overhaul tasks, as well as component assembly, followed by deeper involvement contingent on program maturity and political alignment. He noted that any activity approaching final assembly or significant localization typically requires a minimum economic scale of around 50 aircraft.
“Co-production rhetoric travels faster than the institutions that make co-production real: export controls, IP governance, design authority, configuration control and trust,” Mevlütoğlu wrote.
The Saudi side’s main motivation appears to be structural. In line with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan, which targets 50 percent of the kingdom’s defense spending on locally produced items, Riyadh prefers deals that come with industrial activity onshore rather than deliveries alone.
“The pace of US engagement on deep, structured co-production and transfer remains perceived as slower than Saudi aspirations, which will certainly prompt Riyadh to continue exploring partnerships that are often more flexible on local production and knowledge sharing,” Hesham Alghannam, the director general of strategic studies and national security programs at Naif Arab University for Security Sciences in Riyadh, told Middle East Eye. “If Saudi Arabia feels pressured to choose one partner over others, that kind of pressure might push Riyadh to strengthen ties with alternative suppliers instead.”
Analysts say Saudi Arabia has a track record of flirting with the US’s competitors to extract concessions. During the first Trump administration, the kingdom explored purchasing the Russian S-400 air defense system even as it negotiated the acquisition of the US-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, provoking an angry response from Washington at the time.
Bilal Saab, a former senior defense official in the first Trump administration, told Middle East Eye he views the KAAN talks as “a diplomatic ploy to try to get the right kind of specifications on the F-35.”
“The Saudis and other Gulf states use arms sales as a foreign policy tool, less so an attempt to build military capabilities,” Saab said. “The incentive here is not military in nature for a better capability. For the Saudis, this is about ‘How do we get a better deal from the Americans?’ And quite frankly, it works.”
Defense experts say Saudi Arabia could buy both the F-35 and the KAAN. Although the latter is billed as a Turkish warplane, it still requires an F110 engine made by General Electric, plus the sale has been under discussion for years but has yet to move through Congress.
Mevlütoğlu wrote that operating both aircraft is theoretically feasible, as mixed fleets are common, but the United States tends to treat fifth-generation technology security as a special category. “Both KAAN and the F-35 would require strict compartmentalization and carefully bounded industrial participation. Not impossible, but definitely a matter of balancing on a ledge,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, the KAAN program is advancing. The P1 prototype, the true test-flight model, is expected to make its maiden flight in the first half of this year following two test flights of the P0 prototype. Presidency of the Defense Industry (SSB) chief Haluk Görgün recently said the contractual process for KAAN deliveries to the Turkish Air Force is being initiated.
Mevlütoğlu wrote that once the TF35000 indigenous engine is ready, KAAN will become the only fifth-generation combat aircraft in the Western hemisphere free from International Traffic in Arms Regulations restrictions, making it an option for countries seeking to diversify their defense suppliers.
At the World Defense Show 2026, Turkish Aerospace also signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Military Industries for co-production of the T625 Gökbey utility helicopter in the kingdom, with export potential emphasized.
The KAAN fighter jet project, initiated in 2016, aims to produce a next-generation aircraft by the late 2020s. The $1.18 billion project includes collaboration with BAE Systems for design and development, according to the SSB. The aircraft currently uses General Electric F110 engines, while an indigenous engine, the TF35000, is being developed by Turkish companies Tusaş Engine Industries (TEI) and TRMOTOR.
Saudi Arabia’s talks with Turkey are also taking place amid a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape. The kingdom has moved to evict the United Arab Emirates from Yemen and is backing the Sudanese army along with Egypt and Turkey to defeat the UAE’s allies, the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.
“The Saudi F-35 deal is now divorced from normalisation with Israel. Does it end up like the Emirati F-35s that never materialised because of other conditions? In the United Arab Emirates’ case, it was China; in the Saudi case, Israel. What if the Israelis make a really big fuss about this?” Cinzia Bianco, a Gulf expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Middle East Eye.
“The Saudis will take the F-35 even if they receive a lesser version than Israel. They won’t be happy about it, but they will take it,” she added.