Turkiye will not abandon its Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems despite continued US pressure, Bloomberg reported on 6 November, citing officials familiar with the matter.

The report states that Turkiye is open to limited compromises regarding the systems’ operation, but has ruled out their removal.

Ankara could agree to a joint military mechanism with Washington to oversee the use of the S-400s – a plan meant to address US concerns without dismantling the Russian platform.

Turkiye purchased four S-400 units from Russia in 2017 for $2.5 billion. By October 2019, Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport confirmed the completion of all deliveries. The US responded by expelling Turkiye from the F-35 fighter jet program.

Bloomberg said Ankara’s decision to retain the S-400s comes as it prepares another round of talks with Lockheed Martin over pricing disputes for new F-16 Viper aircraft. Although the US Congress cleared the sale of 40 jets earlier this year, Turkiye has resisted Lockheed’s demand that it finance upgrades to the aircraft’s mission computer and production lines.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a personal appeal to US President Donald Trump during a meeting at the White House. Washington has not commented publicly on the exchange.

Turkiye, the world’s largest F-16 operator after the US, is also seeking access to the mission computer’s source code to integrate its own radar and missile systems. Ankara wants to acquire 40 F-35s if sanctions linked to the S-400 purchase are lifted.

Ankara signed a deal with the UK last month to purchase 20 Eurofighter Typhoons and is negotiating to purchase 12 used Typhoons each from Qatar and Oman, with deliveries expected in early 2026.

Bloomberg also reported in September that Erdogan was pressing Trump to authorize local production of key components for Boeing and Lockheed Martin jets as part of a wider plan to purchase hundreds of US aircraft.

According to people familiar with the negotiations, Erdogan sought to offset multibillion-dollar payments for the planes through local manufacturing deals valued at over $10 billion. He planned to present the proposal directly to Trump during their White House meeting that week.

The report said Ankara hoped the discussions would ease tensions created by its purchase of Russian S-400 missile defense systems, which led to US sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and Turkiye’s exclusion from the F-35 program in 2019.