Trump mistakenly lauds sale of fictional fighter jets

U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of U.S-made F-52 fighter aircraft delivered to Norway may have rattled its neighbour Russia, the source of rising tension among NATO allies. Was it a secret advanced jet capable of beating its Russian counterparts? A ruse to fool intelligence analysts?

Neither, it turns out. The F-52 is a fictional jet only available to fly if you’re a gamer at the controls of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Trump lauded the sale of the fictional planes alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg at the White House on Wednesday, remarking on the very real and growing defence relationship with the U.S.’s northern Europe ally. “In November we started delivering the first F-52s and F-35 fighter jets,” Trump said. “We have a total of 52, and they’ve delivered a number of them already a little ahead of schedule.”

Trump was reading from a statement, and it appears he combined the figure of 52 planes with the “F” designation assigned to fighter jets in the U.S. inventory, like the F-35 Lightning II. Lockheed Martin, the defence company that produces the aircraft, said on its website that Norway requested a total of 52, with funding set aside by the country to purchase 22 so far, the site says. A trio of F-35s arrived in Norway in November, Reuters reported.

Lockheed Martin did not say if it had an F-52 program in development.