U.S. President Joe Biden sent a letter to leaders of key Capitol Hill committees on Wednesday informing them of his intention to begin the formal notification process for the sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 aircraft to Turkey once Ankara completes Sweden’s NATO accession process, Reuters reports.
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 Turkey, Reuters quotes four sources familiar with the letter as saying.
Turkey’s parliament ratified Sweden’s NATO membership bid on Tuesday, clearing a major hurdle to expanding 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.
“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.
Turkey in October 2021 asked to purchase $20 billion of Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, casts some doubt on a speedy approval, saying lawmakers need assurances from the Biden administration and Turkey first.
“For much of the time President Erdogan has been in office, Turkey has been an unfaithful NATO ally — so this is welcome news,” Van Hollen said.
“That said, I still have questions about Erdogan’s ongoing attacks against our Syrian Kurdish allies, his aggressive actions in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the role he played in supporting Azerbaijan’s military assaults against Nagorno-Karabakh,” Van Hollen told Reuters.
