Ekaterina Girnyk15:30, 01/27/24

The US government has approved the sale of 40 new F-16 fighter jets to Turkey for $23 billion.

The Biden administration announced approval of a long-awaited $23 billion sale of F-16 warplanes to Turkey , just after Ankara ratified Sweden’s NATO membership.

According to The Guardian , the deal includes 40 new F-16 fighters, as well as upgrade kits for 79 existing Turkish F-16s. The US State Department told Congress it also approved the sale of 40 F-35 fighter jets to Greece for $8.6 billion.

It is noted that the United States did not give the green light to the agreement on the sale of F-16s until documents ratifying Sweden’s membership in NATO arrived in Washington.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, a Democrat, said Friday he would allow the sale of F-16s to Turkey.

“My approval of Turkey’s request to purchase F-16 aircraft is contingent on Turkey approving Sweden’s membership in NATO. But make no mistake: this was not a decision that came easily to me,” he said.

Once formal notice is given by the US State Department, Congress has 15 days to object to the sale, after which it is considered final. At the same time, US officials do not expect Congress to block the sale, despite criticism of Turkey from some members of Congress.

Turkey’s aging Air Force will benefit from the new F-16s as it suffered exclusion from the US-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program in 2019 due to Erdogan’s decision to purchase an advanced Russian missile defense system.

Türkiye ratifies Sweden’s NATO membership

As UNIAN wrote, in May 2022, against the backdrop of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine,  Sweden and Finland  submitted an official application to join NATO. However, Turkey blocked both bids due to the two countries hosting many Turkish dissidents. 

After lengthy negotiations, Ankara agreed to Finland’s entry into the Alliance  in April last year . 

On January 25, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the decision of the Turkish parliament to ratify Sweden’s membership in NATO . Thus, for Sweden to acquire NATO membership, it remains to obtain the consent of only one country – Hungary. 

(C)UNIAN 2024