The Pentagon Isn't Sure What to Do with Turkey’s Undelivered F-35s10 Dec 2019 Oriana Pawlyk"Congress is offering the Defense Department the option to purchase Turkey's F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and giving the defense secretary discretion to spend up to $30 million to store the fifth-generation jets until a plan for their use is formalized, according to the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2020.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has been given the green light to spend funds "to be appropriated for fiscal year 2020 for the Department of Defense to conduct activities associated with storage, preservation, and developing a plan for the final disposition of such F-35 aircraft and Turkish F-35 aircraft equipment, including full mission simulators, helmet-mounted display systems, air system maintenance trainers, and ancillary mission equipment," the bill states.
That money would fund storage for up to six jets and associated materials. F-35 deliveries to Turkey had originally been slated to occur between late summer and the end of this year....
...In a joint statement provided with the bill Tuesday, Congress said it would "support" the U.S. purchase of all jets originally meant for Turkey. The aircraft have been stationed at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, where international pilot training is conducted.
"The conferees also encourage the Secretary of Defense to maximize the procurement quantity of Turkish F-35A aircraft associated with Lots 12, 13, or 14 during fiscal year 2020 using the additional funds authorized in section 4101 of this Act," according to the statement.
Esper has 90 days from the bill's passage to provide congressional defense committees a report outlining a long-term plan for Turkey's F-35s, "which includes options for recovery of costs from Turkey and for unilateral use of such assets," the bill states....
...The DoD also began phasing out aircraft parts manufactured by Turkey. Turkish industries produce 937 parts for the F-35, including items for the landing gear and fuselage. "We're on the path to March 2020 to transition all of those parts out. ... The U.S. absorbed about a $600 million bill for that," Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord said in October...."
Source: https://www.military.com/daily-news/201 ... f-35s.html