The Biden administration is preparing to seek congressional approval for a $20 billion sale of new F-16 jet fighters to Turkey along with a separate sale of next-generation F-35 warplanes to Greece, in what would be among the largest foreign weapons sales in recent years, according to U.S. officials, GCT reports citing The Wall Street Journal.
Congress’s approval is contingent on Turkey's signoff on Finland and Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the officials said. Turkey has blocked the two countries’ applications over objections to their ties to Kurdish groups. Both countries ended decades of neutrality by deciding to join NATO last year.
The sale to Turkey, which the administration has been considering for more than a year, is larger than expected. It includes 40 new aircraft and kits to overhaul 79 of Turkey's existing F-16 fleet, according to officials familiar with the proposals.
Congressional notification of the deal will roughly coincide with a visit to Washington next week by Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The sale to Turkey also includes more than 900 air-to-air missiles and 800 bombs, one of the officials said.
The separate sale to Greece, which was requested by the Greek government in June 2022, includes at least 30 new F-35s. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the U.S.’s most advanced jet fighter. While officials described the timing of the notifications for both Turkey and Greece as coincidental, it could quell protests from Athens over the F-16 sale if its request is also granted.
A State Department spokesman declined to comment on potential arms transfers as a matter of policy until and unless they are formally notified to Congress. Congress has never successfully blocked a foreign arms sale requested by the White House.
