As US President Donald Trump pitches American-made F-16 fighter jets to global buyers, a string of deadly crashes in Turkey, Taiwan and Poland is raising serious safety concerns. The latest crash in Turkey killed a pilot minutes after take-off, following recent F-16 disasters in Asia and Europe. Together, these incidents are triggering urgent questions about ageing aircraft, high operational stress, delayed upgrades and long-term reliability. The crashes are now casting a shadow over Trump’s global defence sales pitch.