Turkiye’s hopes of rejoining the F-35 fighter programme have faded further, with Moscow now openly discussing a workaround for the Russian S-400 missiles at the heart of the dispute.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on September 28 that Moscow could approve Ankara transferring its S-400 air defence systems to a friendly third country. Turkiye was expelled from the F-35 programme in 2019 after buying the Russian systems, and Washington has long demanded their removal as the price of readmission.

Analysts cited in the reporting say the transfer idea, possibly involving Qatar, would let Turkiye keep its Russian hardware at arm’s length while unlocking the US jets. But they warn it closes as many doors as it opens, since any deal still needs American approval.

For now, Turkiye remains locked out of the stealth fighter it helped build, and the latest signals suggest the stalemate is hardening rather than thawing.