US approves sale of F-16s to Turkey after ratifying Sweden's NATO bid
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The US State Department says Turkey will get 40 new F-16s and upgrades to 79 of the jets in its existing fleet.
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In this image provided by the US Air Force, an F-16 Fighting Falcon from the 510th Fighter Squadron takes off during Red Flag 24-1 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, on Jan 25, 2024. (Staff Sgt. Heather Ley/U.S. Air Force via AP)
Ending months of negotiations, the US government on Friday approved a $23 billion deal to sell F-16 warplanes to Turkey, after Ankara ratified Sweden's NATO membership, the State Department announced.
As required by US law, the State Department notified Congress of the agreement, as well as a separate $8.6 billion sale of 40 F-35s to Greece.
Turkey will get 40 new F-16s and upgrades to 79 of the jets in its existing fleet, the State Department specified in a news release.
The United States did not green-light the transaction until Turkey's instruments of ratification of Sweden's membership had arrived in Washington, a US official told AFP, highlighting the highly sensitive nature of the negotiations.
Turkey's parliament ratified Sweden's NATO membership on Tuesday after more than a year of delays. The majority of Turkish parliamentarians voted in favor of Sweden's bid to formally become the 32nd member of NATO.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan initially objected to Sweden's NATO bid over Stockholm's hosting of pro-PKK groups that Ankara views as "terrorist". Sweden responded by tightening its anti-terrorism legislation and taking other security steps demanded by Erdogan.
But Erdogan then turned to an unmet US pledge to deliver a batch of F-16 fighter jets that has met resistance in Congress over Turkey's alleged human rights violations and standoffs with fellow NATO member Greece.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Turkey over two visits in the past three months that the Swedish candidacy's ratification could help break congressional resistance to the F-16 sale.
Athens has meanwhile strongly opposed the sale due to unresolved territorial disputes with Turkey in the energy-rich Mediterranean region. The US agreement with Turkey depended first on Athens not obstructing the sale, for which it was given access to more F-35s, the US source revealed.
Turkey's aging air force has suffered from Ankara's expulsion from the US-led F-35 joint strike fighter program in 2019 over Erdogan's decision to acquire the advanced Russian S-400 air defense systems.
Turkey's green light of Swedish NATO membership leaves Hungary as the last holdout in an accession process that Sweden and Finland began in response to the war in Ukraine nearly two years ago.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday invited his Swedish counterpart to Budapest to discuss the bid. He had also announced that his country supports Sweden's accession to NATO and will soon schedule a ratification vote in the parliament.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said he will meet with Orban, but that he would "not negotiate" with Hungary over Stockholm's NATO bid.
Read more: Swedish Defense Minister: War could come to Sweden
