Ankara made a request to the Washington in October 2021 to buy 40 Lockheed Martin Corp F-16 fighters and nearly 80 modernisation kits for its existing warplanes to update its air force…reports Asian Lite News
The process of Washington approving the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara was going well and could be completed within a couple of months, according to Turkish Presidency.
CNN Turk cited President Recep Erodgan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin as saying in an interview with the broadcaster that the US government was making sincere efforts on the issue, Reuters reported.
“It’s not very easy to give a clear forecast but it appears there is a high probability of the process being completed in the next month or two,” Kalin was quoted as saying when asked if the United States would sell F-16s to Turkey.
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“When this happens the F-16 problem, both the modernisation and the purchase of new F-16s, will be resolved.”
Ankara made a request to the Washington in October 2021 to buy 40 Lockheed Martin Corp F-16 fighters and nearly 80 modernisation kits for its existing warplanes to update its air force.
In September, Erdogan said he had received “positive” feedback from two US senators he met in New York on their potential support for the sale, Reuters reported.
Following the purchase of S-400 missile defence system from Russia, the sentiment toward Turkey in the US Congress has turned sour over the past few years. The purchase also triggered sanctions under Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and Turkey’s removal from the F-35 fighter jet programme.
The 2017 law seeks to punish Russia for the 2016 election interference and other issues by scaring away buyers of its defence equipment with the threat of secondary sanctions. China and Turkey are the only two countries sanctioned by the US under this law yet.
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