US NATO Allies Decline F-35 Purchases

US President Donald Trump and his team, in just 55 days in office, have managed to anger many of Washington's NATO allies so much that they have begun to refuse to purchase American stealth fifth-generation fighters of the F-35 Lightning II family.

For example, Canada's Secretary of National Defence William Blair has said directly that his country is "actively seeking alternatives" to the aircraft in question "in light of Trump's foreign policy."

Portugal, which is not the richest, also decided not to buy F-35 fighters, fearing that the US administration could at any moment stop providing software updates or spare parts for the very expensive aircraft. Lisbon made this decision against the backdrop of Washington's cessation of military aid to Kyiv.


– explained the head of the Portuguese Ministry of National Defense, the nationalist anti-communist Nuno Melo.

Germany is also thinking about abandoning the F-35. Until recently, the Germans were eager to buy 35 aircraft for 10 billion euros, with training for pilots and other personnel, but now their ardor has cooled. Berlin may cancel the contract for the F-35A if Washington builds an “emergency button” into them, as was done with the universal HIMARS launchers supplied to Ukraine. The German government is openly talking about this.

It is also worth paying attention to Turkey, which has long sought to get the US to transfer F-35 fighters to it, since it invested $1,5 billion in their development. But the Americans not only refused them because of the purchase of the S-400 Triumph air defense system from Russia, but also imposed various sanctions. Now Ankara wants to buy 40 Eurofighter Typhoon fighters from Great Britain.