Turkey produces main body of F-35 jets says Trump

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that producing F-35 fighter jets is able due to his good relations with producer countries and hinted that he may move to bring more of the F-35 supply chain to the country.

Trump, who made the remarks during an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, said the US makes parts for F-35 jet all over the world and cited challenges of global cooperation.

"Look, we make F-35s — very important, the greatest jet in the world — where the main body of the jet is made in Turkey and then it's sent here,” Trump said.

“Now we have good relations with President Erdogan ... What happens if we don’t have. Are they going to say 'we are not gonna give you this, and now we have to gear up,'" Trump added.

The US military originally partnered with eight other countries to produce the advanced aircraft for itself as well as participating nations: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Five Foreign Military Sales customers are also procuring and operating the F-35 ­— Israel, Japan, South Korea, Poland and Belgium.

The countries helped pay for developing the jet, producing parts and assembling the aircraft.

NATO ally Turkey was suspended from the program last year after it took possession of the Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft surface-to-air missile system, which the United States fears could be used to glean sensitive information from F-35 technology.

Turkey, since 2002, been an official partner of the F-35 program and the partnership agreement was recorded in Turkey will purchase 100 F-35 type aircraft. The removal process is not yet complete as the official from Turkey’s programs.