The US administration notified Congress on Monday of a planned software sale to Turkey worth $259 million for an upgrade towards its current fleet of F-16 fighter jets, reported Reuters.
Now that Ankara has dropped its objections to Finland’s NATO membership, the Joe Biden administration has received informal approval from the US’s congressional committees to move ahead with the long contested sale of the F-16 modernisation package to Turkey.
If the deal is formally approved, the package will be the first major military sale that Congress has approved to Turkey for years. However, Ankara’s request to buy 40 new F-16s remains in limbo while the US Congress waits for Turkey to approve Sweden’s NATO bid, aswell as Finland’s.
The upgrade includes improvements in communications and security programs such as the ground avoidance system, the US State Department said.