Turkey’s hope to the US Congress to receive F-16

According to the report of Fars International News Agency, the Turkish Foreign Minister said on Monday that he does not see negative prospects for the process of buying F-16 fighter jets from America.

According to the newspaperHaritTurkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, “There is a relatively positive atmosphere in our relations with the United States, problems will probably be solved, relations will improve.” Our discussions about the F-16 were very positive. US President Joe Biden also said that he is in favor of giving F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, but this agreement must be approved by Congress. “Several senators in the Democratic Party are against this.”

Çavuşoğlu added: “However, we do not see a negative outlook in this regard at the moment.”

Joe Biden recently said in this context that the United States should continue selling F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. He said: “We have to sell F-16 jets to them and modernize those jets as well.”

In October last year, Turkey asked Washington to buy 40 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets and nearly 80 upgrade kits for its existing warplanes.

In March, Turkey’s foreign ministry sent a letter to some members of the US Congress who had opposed the sale, saying a “proper” US defense trade relationship with Turkey was in line with US interests.

Bob Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a staunch opponent of the sale of this type of fighter to Turkey, recently told Air Force Magazine during a visit to an air base: “I personally do not support the sale of the F-16 fighter to Turkey.”

Military analysts have said that it is necessary for Turkey to upgrade its F-16 fighter fleet to the F-16 block to counter Greece, an upgrade that is currently underway in Greece, but not in Turkey.

At the same time as the positive reaction of the United States to the modernization of the Turkish Air Force’s “F-16 block” fighters, Greece also demanded the purchase of a number of fifth-generation fighter jets from the United States.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, while speaking at the NATO summit in Madrid, said that Greece has sent a letter of request to the United States for the purchase of the fifth-generation F-35 Lightning fighter manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

According to Mitsotakis, Greece plans to purchase 20 F-35 fighter jets, and another 20 are being considered as another option. It is expected that these fighters will reach the Greek Air Force in 2027. (More details)

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