The administration of President Joe Biden has approved the sale of F-16 aircraft and related equipment to Turkey.
In a Friday press release, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it notified Congress about the potential foreign military sale of 40 new F-16 aircraft and the modernization of Turkey’s 79 existing fighters for $23 billion.
Lockheed Martin will serve as the principal contractor for the FMS.
The approval came just a day after the Turkish Parliament ratified Sweden’s accession into NATO, ending over a year of negotiations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been involved in talks with Turkish officials on Sweden’s NATO bid over the past year. In February 2023, Blinken met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who insisted on his country’s need to receive the F-16s to approve Sweden’s NATO membership.
As part of the FMS, Ankara will also receive AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array scalable agile beam radars, integrated viper electronic warfare suite, LAU-129 guided missile launchers, AN/AAQ-33 sniper advanced targeting pods, advanced medium range air-to-air missile AIM-120C-8 and spare parts.
