U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is planning to ask Congress to approve a $20 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye, a report said Friday.
The sale "is larger than expected" and includes 40 F-16 fighters and modernization kits for 79 of the warplanes already in Ankara's possession, the Wall Street Journal newspaper reported, citing anonymous officials familiar with the matter.
Ankara requested the F-16s and modernization kits in October 2021 in what was previously estimated to cost $6 billion.
Congressional notification of the deal is expected to take place next week when Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu pays a visit to Washington. In addition to the warplanes and updated equipment, the agreement is slated to include 900 air-to-air missiles and 800 bombs, the newspaper reported.
It added that the administration will not issue the sign-off on the package without Türkiye first agreeing to Finland and Sweden's NATO ascension. The administration will also request that Congress approve the sale to Athens of 30 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets, which Greece originally requested in June.
The State Department and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Congressional notification of the sales will kick off a 30-day window for lawmakers to raise objections. If Congress seeks to block either of the sales, it will have to pass what is known as a joint resolution. Lawmakers have up until the time of delivery of the weapons to do so, but Congress has never succeeded in passing such a resolution, according to the Congressional Research Service.
It is unclear if Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairperson Bob Menendez will oppose the sale, as he previously threatened to do.
Türkiye has been seeking to modernize its existing warplanes to update its air force and sought to buy 40 Lockheed Martin F-16 jets and nearly 80 modernization kits from the U.S. after the purchase of F-35s fell through.
The sale of U.S. weapons to Türkiye became contentious after Ankara acquired Russian-made S-400 defense missile systems. The deal triggered U.S. sanctions as well as Türkiye’s removal from the F-35 fighter jet program.
The relations between Ankara and Washington have been strained in recent years because of U.S. cooperation with the YPG/PKK terrorist group in Syria, its failure to extradite the wanted ringleader of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), disagreements over Türkiye's purchase of Russia's S-400 air defense system, and Washington's sanctions on Ankara.
The U.S. has said it is cooperating with the YPG/PKK in northern Syria to fight the terrorist group Daesh but Turkish officials say using one terrorist group to fight another makes no sense, morally or otherwise.
