U.S. President Joe Biden sent a letter to leaders of key Capitol Hill committees on Wednesday informing them of his intention to start the formal notification process for the prolonged sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Türkiye once Ankara completes Sweden’s NATO accession process.
In the letter to the top Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committees, Biden urged Congress to approve the sale "without delay," a U.S. official said.
Earlier on Wednesday the White House sent a letter to members of Congress urging approval of the $20 billion sale of F-16 aircraft and modernization kits to Türkiye, four sources familiar with the letter told Reuters.
"The president urged Congress to proceed with the F-16 sale without delay," an unnamed official, speaking on condition of anonymity conveyed the same message to Anadolu Agency (AA).
Türkiye's Parliament on Tuesday ratified Sweden's NATO membership bid, clearing a major hurdle to expand the Western military alliance after 20 months of delay. The sources said the letter was sent on Wednesday, and that the Biden administration has not yet formally notified Congress of plans for the sale.
As Türkiye has cleared the path for Sweden's bid, eyes have now turned toward the U.S.' approval of sales of F-16 fighter jets, which has been linked to Ankara's approval of Stockholm's application to join the military bloc.
All existing NATO countries must approve before a new member can join the alliance, and Hungary now remains the only member that hasn't given Sweden the green light.
Finland and Sweden – both Nordic countries close to or bordering Russia – applied for NATO membership soon after Russia launched its war on Ukraine in February 2022.
Finland became NATO's 31st ally in April 2023 following approval from all of the alliance's legislatures.
The U.S. lawmakers had said they were awaiting Türkiye's approval of Sweden's NATO membership, including President Recip Tayyip Erdoğan's signature before deciding whether to approve the F-16 sale.
Turkish Parliament voted 287-55 in favor of the Nordic nation's bid to become the 32nd member of the alliance and Erdoğan must now sign the so-called accession protocol, which must be published in the country's Official Gazette before it takes effect. Following the signing of the legislation, the instrument of accession for Sweden also needs to be sent to Washington.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The State Department declined to provide an exact timeline for the formal notification process for the F-16 sale.
"President Biden, Secretary Blinken have been very clear of our support for modernizing Turkey's F-16 fleet, which we view as a key investment in NATO interoperability. But beyond that ... I'm just not going to confirm or get ahead of proposed defense sales or transfers until they are formally notified to Congress," State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a news briefing, referring to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Türkiye in October 2021 asked to purchase $20 billion of Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes.
The Biden administration has repeatedly backed the deal and promised to move forward with the $20 billion sale.
On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department repeated the administration's backing for the sale.
"President Biden has long been clear that he supports modernizing Türkiye's F-16 fleet, which is an investment in NATO interoperability," a State Department spokesperson told AA.
"This proposed sale will support the national security interests of the U.S., Türkiye and all NATO allies."
Separately on Thursday, in a phone interview with Reuters, the U.S. ambassador to Türkiye said he anticipates that President Erdoğan will give a final sign-off on Sweden's NATO membership within days, triggering rapid steps toward the U.S. Congress endorsing a sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara.
Asked whether he expected this "within days," Flake, a former U.S. Republican senator, told Reuters: "Yes, I do."
"I see no reason why, with the Parliament having acted here, that Türkiye would wait," he said. "So I would expect as soon as that is conveyed to Washington, then congressional notification (of the F-16 sales) will happen."
"The president here needs to sign it and then the instrument needs to be conveyed to Washington," he told Reuters by phone. "As soon as that happens, then we expect notification to happen. And official notification will happen."
The Biden administration informally notified Congress of the sale last January, and a tiered review process was initiated to start negotiations with Congress. However, some of the key lawmakers in Congress have tied the F-16 sale to the approval of Sweden's NATO accession bid.
Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday he was "pleased" with the Turkish Parliament's approval.
Meanwhile, an official of the Turkish Defense Ministry in a weekly briefing on Thursday recalled that the request for the jets was delivered to their U.S. counterparts on Sept. 30, 2021.
"We consider it a positive step that U.S. President Biden sent a letter of recommendation to Congress to approve the sale. What really needs to be done is to send a request regarding this to the Congress and start the official process through the Congress," said the ministry's press representative, Rear Adm. Zeki Aktürk.
"We express once again our expectation that the process will conclude positively."
Frustrated by the prolonged process of its request to acquire F-16s, Türkiye has also begun discussions to buy Eurofighters, produced by a consortium involving Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Türkiye announced in November it was in talks with Britain and Spain to acquire 40 Eurofighter jets, though Germany appeared to object to the idea. Ankara has been urging Germany to align with the NATO spirit.
