Türkiye reportedly plans major Boeing and Lockheed purchases ahead of Trump–Erdoğan talks

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is preparing to buy hundreds of Boeing airliners and Lockheed Martin fighter jets in deals worth more than $10 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

The purchases, which include a large-scale Boeing aircraft order and new military contracts, are contingent on approval from U.S. President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Türkiye is also seeking more than $10 billion in local production deals as part of the package.

The reports come days before Trump and Erdoğan are due to meet at The White House on Thursday. Trump is expected to finalise trade and defence agreements during the talks, including a major F-16 purchase and renewed negotiations on Türkiye’s participation in the F-35 fighter jet programme.

On Monday, Erdoğan confirmed that Ankara would reopen F-35 discussions at the meeting. Türkiye was ejected from the programme in 2019 after it purchased Russian S-400 missile defence systems, a move that led Washington to block delivery of the stealth aircraft and halt joint production.

Since then, Türkiye has sought to modernise its air force through new F-16 acquisitions while maintaining interest in rejoining the F-35 consortium.

Neither The White House nor Boeing or Lockheed Martin immediately responded to Reuters’ requests for comment. Türkiye’s Defence Ministry declined to comment to Bloomberg.

If confirmed, the agreements would mark one of Türkiye’s largest commercial and defence procurement packages with the U.S. in recent years.

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