The United States is weighing the provision of a $700 million package of GE-made engines for Turkey's KAAN 5th-generation fighter jet, Interesting Engineering reported on June 24. Meanwhile, rumors are circulating that U.S. President Donald Trump may take steps to reintegrate Turkey into the F-35 program, from which his first administration ousted Ankara in 2019 over its purchase of a Russian S-400 air defense system.

The KAAN is Turkey's indigenous stealth fighter jet that Ankara hopes to turn into a platform for regional aerial defense and dominance, independent from its NATO partners. However, Turkey's defense base lacks the technological knowledge to develop key components on its own, notably the engine and several of its armaments, keeping Turkey reliant on its Western allies for these systems. Turkey is still developing an indigenous engine, the TEI-TF35000, but it remains years away from becoming viable.