Banned from buying the F-35: The global politics behind America’s fighter jet deals
July 13, 2025
It was designed for export, but still some countries remain banned from buying F-35 fighter jets.
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter is the most advanced fighter jet in service today. It is the top-line fighter of most leading US allies around the world.
Even so, the US is selective about which countries it sells the F-35 to and sometimes imposes ‘onerous’ conditions on the countries it does sell them to.
The 5th-gen fighter intended for export
The United States developed the F-35 with an eye for export and produced it with the cooperation of various allies.
A substantial minority of its parts and components are produced by allies, particularly the United Kingdom, which produces around 15% of every F-35 built. Notably, BAE Systems contributes the aft fuselage on every F-35, as well as vertical and horizontal stabalisers.
More than 1,200 F-35s have been delivered (across all variants). These also include a limited number of jets assembled at Lockheed’s final assembly and checkout facilities in Cameri, Italy and Nagoya, Japan. Most are assembled at Fort Worth in Texas.
F-35 Lightning IIs have been sold to Australia. Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, South Korea, and Switzerland.
Romania is the newest country to join the program, while the first F-35A intended for Belgium rolled off the assembly line in July 2025.
Amongst NATO allies, few remaining countries could feasibly order the F-35. France and Sweden are not interested as they focus on investing in their respective Rafale and Gripen fighter jet programs. Portugal is one country that could order it.
Outside of NATO, the US has so far only agreed to sell the F-35 to a select group of close and trusted allies, including Japan, South Korea, Israel, and Australia.
Why are some countries banned from buying F-35?
There are two primary reasons why some nations are banned from buying F-35 fighters.
One is that the US wants to safeguard the advanced technologies on the aircraft, and the other is that it is bound by law to maintain Israel’s technological edge.
When the US does sell the F-35, conditions for its use are strict. Countries are not permitted to modify the jet or its software. They can only use approved missiles.
One partial exception is Israel, which the US has permitted to make limited adjustments to fire Israeli-made missiles.
The United States does not tolerate the F-35 operating around advanced Russian or Chinese-made systems that could gather compromising intel.
The reason Turkey was kicked out of the program was that it purchased Russian-made S-400 SAMs. The US fears the S-400 will gather information on the jet for Russia.
Another example is China’s Huawei 5G network. The US fears that this, too, can gather compromising information on the F-35 for China. Huawei’s 5G networks were one of the main reasons the US backed away from selling F-35s to the UAE.
According to Janes reporting in 2020, the US warned the UK that if it didn’t ban the Huawei 5G networks, it would not deploy its F-35s to the nation. The UK has since banned Huawei’s 5G networks, with the last technology to be removed by 2027.
In the case of Taiwan, the main concern is that technology could be compromised as the island is believed to have a large number of Chinese spies. Additionally, the US does not want to antagonize China.
Close ties between Thailand’s military-backed government and China were part of the reason that the US denied Thailand access to the F-35 in 2023.
The second reason is to project Israel’s qualitative military edge. The US-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2014 states that sales and exports of defense articles to countries in the Middle East “will not adversely affect Israel’s qualitative military edge over military threats to Israel.”
This effort to safeguard Israel’s qualitative military edge is often partially credited for why the deals to sell F-35s to the UAE and Egypt have fallen through, and the requests of Saudi Arabia and Qatar never went anywhere.
This has often frustrated the US Middle Eastern allies. While the US always offers alternative jets like 4th-generation F-15s, F/A/18s, and F-16s, the UAE and Egypt have openly touted purchasing Chinese fighters instead.
The countries banned from buying F-35 fighter jets
Numerous countries have been denied the opportunity to purchase the F-35. The most significant of these is NATO ally Turkey. Turkey was part of the development of the F-35 and even produced some of the components for the jet.
Turkey paid $1.4 billion in deposits for the F-35A, and the first six examples were built. Turkish pilots were even trained on them in the United States. However, just before the handover, the US kicked Turkey out of the program and refused to transfer the jets after it purchased Russian S-400 SAMs.
Since 2019, those six fully paid Turkish F-35As have been stored in limbo in the United States. For reference, Turkey is estimated to have paid around $2.5 billion for the Russian S-400 SAMs.
The F-35 components Turkey was producing were substituted, while Turkey’s deposit was not returned, and those jets remain gathering dust in the United States.
Under the first Trump Administration, provisional agreements were made to sell 50 F-35As to the UAE and 20 F-35As to Egypt. These deals stalled with Washington not allowing them to progress.
Other countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Thailand, are known to have requested to purchase the fighter jet, only to have been rebuffed by the United States.
Even with Israel, one of the US’s most trusted allies, there are stringent conditions. For example, according to Forbes, Israeli pilots with dual passports are banned from flying the F-35.
However, shifts in US leadership have periodically changed the outlook.
A more relaxed approach under Trump
The Trump Administration appears to see the F-35 more as a commodity to be sold compared with other administrations. The Administration has appeared willing to sell it to a wider selection of countries.
In February 2025, Trump discussed selling the F-35 to India. This has been nigh-unthinkable as India operates Russia’s S-400 and other advanced systems. It seems unlikely such a sale will happen any time soon.
Meanwhile, Morocco is reportedly close to finalising a deal to purchase F-35s. Morocco was the first country to recognise the independence of the United States in 1777 (and formally in 1786), and relations have long been warm between the two countries.
Morocco is also in heated competition with its rival Algeria. Algeria is set to become the first and only export country to purchase Russia’s Su-57 Felon.
It’s unclear what other countries the US could permit to purchase the F-35. There are reports that the Administration may unblock the sale of the jets to Turkey. At the same time, a recent $142 billion arms deal to Saudi Arabia reportedly did not include the F-35.
