USA approves F-16 sale to Turkiye alongside F-35s for Greece

Turkish Air Forces perform salute flight with Airbus A400M Atlas, F-16 and F-4E 2000 planes above Bosphorus prior to TEKNOFEST 2023 in Istanbul, Turkiye on April 25, 2023 [İsa Terli – Anadolu Agency]

The United States has approved the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkiye after the Turkish Parliament, this week, ratified Sweden’s NATO membership, Al-Jazeera reports.

According to the report, the US Department of State notified Congress of the $23 billion agreement to sell the warplanes to NATO ally, Turkiye, on Friday night, along with a companion $8.6 billion sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to Greece, also an ally in the Western military bloc.

The department’s notification came hours after Turkiye 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 sale to Turkiye includes 40 Lockheed Martin F-16s and equipment to modernise 79 of its existing F-16 fleet. Greece will get 40 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters and related equipment.

Meanwhile, Greece will also receive F-35A fighters for a price of $8.6 billion.

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