Biden supports Turkey F-16 purchase, says Congress will agree

Bloomberg

President Joe Biden said he told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he supported the sale of F-16 jets to modernise Turkey’s air force.
“We should sell them the F-16 jets and modernize those jets as well,” Biden said at the conclusion of a Nato summit in Madrid on Thursday. “It’s not in our interest not to do that.”
The president spoke after meeting Wednesday with Erdogan, who announced earlier this week he was dropping his opposition to Sweden and Finland joining the Western alliance.
Erdogan used his meeting with Biden to press the US on the sale of dozens of new F-16 warplanes, as well as additional weapons and equipment upgrades. While both Turkish and US officials said the discussion was not related to the Nato decision, the agreement paved the way for the two leaders to meet in person to discuss Ankara’s longstanding defense requests. Biden said his support for the F-16 sale was not a “quid pro quo” and that he had supported the purchases since last year. Congress must approve the sale but Biden said he believed he could secure their approval.
Modernizing Turkey’s air force has been a priority for Erdogan after the US ousted the country from the program to purchase and construct Lockheed Martin Corp.’s more advanced F-35 fighter in 2019 after the country purchased Russia’s S-400 missile system. The F-16 deal is potentially worth $6 billion.