Turkey’s most important requirements are met.
The White House will sell 40 new F-16 planes to Turkey, AP reports. The approval came after the country ratified Sweden’s NATO application on Thursday.
Flown on for review
The documents must have been flown to New York on Friday, according to information to The New York Times. Several members of Congress demanded to see the signed documents for Sweden’s NATO application.
The US State Department is said to have then sent personnel who took them from New York on to Washington where they were examined.
In addition to the 40 new planes, the US will also sell equipment to modernize its current F-16 fleet of 79 planes. Democrat Ben Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has expressed concern about getting the deal done. And the sale has been renegotiated.
“Not a decision I made lightly”
Several senior members of Congress have been concerned about how Turkey will use the plan vis-à-vis its neighbors.
– My approval of Turkey’s request to buy F-16 aircraft has been conditional on Turkish approval of Sweden’s NATO membership. But don’t get me wrong: this was not a decision I made lightly, says Cardin in a video published on X.