Negotiations between the United States and Turkey over Turkish plans to procure some 100 F-35 strike fighters have stalled because the United States refuses to share the source code for the aircraft’s software, reports UPI. Possessing the source code would make it possible for Turkish engineers to make changes to the aircraft’s software to enable country-specific aircraft modifications. Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul reportedly told a Turkish newspaper earlier this month that the talks to date had not yielded “satisfactory results” to enable the $16 billion deal to proceed, according to UPI. Earlier this year, Gonul said Turkey might up its F-35 buy to 116.
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.