Biden urges Congress to approve Turkey F-16 sale

WASHINGTON ― President Joe Biden on Wednesday urged four key lawmakers to greenlight the roughly $20 billion sale of 40 F-16s to Turkey, noting the State Department intends to formally approve the deal as soon as Ankara finalizes Sweden’s NATO accession.

The sale of the Block 70 F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, which also includes 80 modernization kits, had been stalled for years, with the latest issue being Turkey’s nearly two-year-long blockade of Sweden’s NATO bid. Biden’s letter comes after the Turkish parliament ratified Sweden’s NATO accession 287-55 on Tuesday, though President Recep Tayyip Erdogan still needs to sign it.

A U.S. official, speaking anonymously to discuss correspondence with Congress, told Defense News the letter to lawmakers welcomed “the Turkish parliament’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO accession protocols and informing them his administration intends to formally notify Congress of the sale of F-16s to Turkey as soon as this process is complete.”

“The President urged Congress to proceed with the F-16 sale without delay,” said the U.S. official. Reuters first reported the letter .

The chairman or ranking member of either the Senate Foreign Relations or House Foreign Affairs committees can block any arms sale. Turkey scored a significant victory in September when the chief opponent of the sale, former Sen. Bob Menendez , D-N.J., lost his position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the Justice Department unveiled another corruption indictment against him.

But Menendez’s successor, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Ben Cardin , D-Md., hasn’t committed to approving the sale.

“The next step for us is to get the accession documents completed,” Cardin told Defense News. “I’m working with the administration.”

Cardin noted in October Sweden’s NATO accession was a prerequisite to the Turkey F-16 sale , but he also raised concerns over human rights issues and the use of the weapons systems. Turkey has previously used F-16s on U.S.-backed, Kurdish-majority forces in northeast Syria and stationed the fighter jets in Azerbaijan during the 2020 war with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Lawmakers had also repeatedly voiced concerns about Turkish incursions into Greek airspace, but the two NATO allies agreed in December on a roadmap to improve their relations.

For its part, Greece is waiting on the Biden administration to approve the sale of 20 F-35As from Lockheed Martin that it requested in 2022.

Greece has also expressed interest in joining the F-35 co-production program . The U.S. expelled Turkey from the F-35 co-production program in 2019 over Ankara’s purchase of the S-400 missile defense system over fears Moscow could use its advanced radar system to spy on the stealth fighter jets.

Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.

华盛顿——周三，乔·拜登总统敦促四位关键议员批准向土耳其出售价值约 200 亿美元的 40 架 F-16 战斗机，并指出国务院打算在安卡拉完成瑞典加入北约的最后程序后立即正式批准该交易。

洛克希德·马丁公司向瑞典出售Block 70型F-16战斗机（包括80套现代化升级套件）的交易已停滞多年，最近的症结在于土耳其对瑞典加入北约的申请进行了近两年的阻挠。拜登的信函是在土耳其议会周二以287票赞成、55票反对批准瑞典加入北约之后发出的，尽管土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安仍需签署该协议。

一位不愿透露姓名的美国官员在接受《防务新闻》采访时表示，他致信国会议员，对“土耳其议会批准瑞典加入北约的议定书表示欢迎，并告知他们，一旦该程序完成，美国政府将正式通知国会向土耳其出售F-16战斗机一事。”

“总统敦促国会立即推进F-16战斗机的出售，”一位美国官员表示。路透社率先报道了这封信的内容。

参议院外交关系委员会或众议院外交事务委员会的主席或资深成员有权阻止任何军售。土耳其在9月份取得了一项重大胜利，当时，该军售案的主要反对者、前参议员鲍勃·梅嫩德斯（新泽西州）在司法部公布对其提起的另一项腐败指控后，失去了参议院外交关系委员会主席的职位。

但梅嫩德斯的继任者，参议院外交关系委员会主席、马里兰州民主党参议员本·卡丁尚未承诺批准这项出售。

卡丁告诉《防务新闻》：“我们下一步的工作是完成入伍文件。我正在与政府部门合作。”

卡丁在10月份指出，瑞典加入北约是土耳其购买F-16战机的先决条件，但他同时也对人权问题和武器系统的使用表示担忧。土耳其此前曾使用F-16战机打击美国支持的叙利亚东北部库尔德人武装，并在2020年与亚美尼亚就纳戈尔诺-卡拉巴赫争议地区爆发的战争期间，将这些战机部署在阿塞拜疆境内。

议员们也曾多次对土耳其入侵希腊领空表示担忧，但这两个北约盟国在12月就改善两国关系的路线图达成一致。

希腊方面则在等待拜登政府批准其在 2022 年向洛克希德·马丁公司购买 20 架 F-35A 战斗机的请求。

希腊也表示有兴趣加入F-35联合生产项目。2019年，美国因土耳其购买S-400导弹防御系统而将土耳其逐出F-35联合生产项目，担心莫斯科可能利用其先进的雷达系统监视隐形战斗机。

布莱恩特·哈里斯是《防务新闻》的国会记者。自2014年以来，他一直在华盛顿报道美国外交政策、国家安全、国际事务和政治。他还曾为《外交政策》、《Al-Monitor》、《半岛电视台英语频道》和IPS新闻撰稿。