U.S. President Donald Trump wants to sell simplified military aircraft to allies because of the fears of losing them.

He said this during a regular media speech.

In his opinion, this approach will give the United States an advantage over its current allies, and in the future, in case of deterioration of relations with them, it will have an advantage in having the same equipment.

“We’re going to sell our allies simplified military aircraft because someday they may not be our allies anymore,” Trump said.

It should be noted that such a policy of selling simplified aircraft by the United States is not new.

In 1977, the then US President Jimmy Carter offered to sell simplified versions of the F-16 to the allies, which used the old J79 engine instead of the F100.

As of 1977, the J79 engine was actively used on F-4 Phantom fighters, but it had inferior performance, which generally worsened the aircraft’s flight capabilities.

The F-16 fighter with the J79 engine was designated as F-16/79, but due to low interest and a change in Carter’s policy in 1980, this idea was not implemented.

It should be noted that Trump’s current policy towards allies has a negative impact on the export of American weapons.

Such changes, although not critical, still hurt the image of companies and the country itself as a reliable arms supplier now and in the future.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that Portuguese Defense Minister Nuno Melo had announced the exclusion of the possibility of purchasing F-35 fighters due to the unpredictability of US policy and the current geopolitical situation.

In addition, Canada is reconsidering the purchase of the F-35s amid the tensions with the United States, even though payment for the first 16 aircraft has already been made.