-Turkey wants F-35s to keep pace with regional rivals and seed its defense industry, but Congress previously sanctioned Ankara for buying the S-400. -A safer alternative: allow allied F-35s to use Turkish bases for NATO defense without transferring jets or eroding nonproliferation standards. F-35 Deal Reboot for Turkey? Suppose Congress allows Trump and perhaps Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to declare the S-400 neutralized because Turkey removes a single component. In that case, they may enable Trump’s short-term sale of F-35s to Turkey to proceed, but this could create a long-term disaster.