United States has approved the sale of F-16 fighter planes to Turkey, after the approval of Sweden’s NATO proposal
The United States (U.S.) has approved the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey after the Turkish Parliament approved Sweden’s North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) bid.
The U.S. Department of State has notified the U.S. Congress of the U.S. $ 23 billion agreement to sell the warplanes to Turkey along with the U.S. $ 8.6 billion sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to Greece.
The sale to Turkey includes 40 Lockheed Martin F-16s and equipment to modernise 79 of its existing F-16 fleet. Meanwhile, Greece will get 40 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters and related equipment.
Taking it to X, the U.S. Secretary of State – Antony Blinken tweeted,
We welcome Turkish President Erdogan’s signature of the Articles of Ratification for Sweden’s @NATO membership. We look forward to receiving the instruments in Washington and welcoming Sweden as NATO’s 32nd Ally. Sweden and the Alliance are stronger together. pic.twitter.com/iLFCI0balI
— Ammar (@Ammar1133597) January 26, 2024
The notification came hours after Turkey deposited its “instrument of ratification” for Sweden’s accession to NATO with Washington, which is the repository for alliance documents and after several key members of Congress lifted their objections. The President of Turkey – Recep Tayyip Erdogan, initially objected to Sweden’s membership bid, accusing Swedish officials of being too lenient on militant groups, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Since applying, Sweden has tightened its anti-terror legislation and agreed to work more closely with Turkey on security concerns.
Sweden, along with Finland, applied for NATO membership in May 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier that year. Finland became the 31st member of the alliance last April. Its membership roughly doubled the length of NATO’s border with Russia and substantially strengthened the defences of three small Baltic nations that joined the bloc following the Soviet Union’s collapse
Blinken was extensively engaged for months with Turkish Officials and U.S. lawmakers to reach the deal to stop Erdogan’s obstruction of Sweden’s NATO bid. During a trip to Turkey in February 2023, Blinken met with Erdogan, who stressed the need for the U.S. to give Turkey the F-16s before he would approve Sweden’s membership into the alliance. Blinken, in turn, told the Turkish president multiple times that members of Congress would not approve the sale of jets until Turkey allowed Sweden to join NATO.
Turkey has long sought to upgrade its F-16 fleet and requested the jets in October 2021, but its delay in approving Sweden’s NATO bid became an obstacle to winning congressional approval. The U.S. Congress has 15 days to object to the sale, after which it will be considered final.
