State Department to notify Congress of Turkey’s F-16 sale: sources

Turkey’s efforts to secure the State Department’s approval for the F-16 fighter jets sale are nearing fruition and could come as soon as today, well-informed sources familiar with the process told Al-Monitor on condition they not be identified by name. 

Turkey is expected to submit documents to the State Department on Friday related to the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership that was approved by the Turkish parliament on Tuesday, according to the same sources. 

The sources said the State Department will in turn formally notify the United States Congress of the pending sale of around 20 F-35 Stealth fighter jets to Greece and 40 new F-16 and 80 modernization kits to Turkey, the sources said, adding that the notification could take place as early as today.

Turkey’s ratification went into effect after its publication in the Official Gazette early Friday with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s blessings.

Turkey tabled its demand to buy 40 new F-16s and the kits for $20 billion in 2021, after it was ousted from the consortium that manufactures the new generation F-35 program. NATO member Turkey — with the alliance’s second-largest standing military, after the United States — was excluded from the program after the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act in 2020 over its purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system. 

The Biden administration publicly endorsed the sale last year, but the State Department has yet to officially notify Congress of the sale amid opposition by some lawmakers who threatened to block the sale, citing what they described as Turkish aggression toward its US allies in the eastern Mediterranean, particularly Greece. 

This is a breaking story and will be updated.