A total of USD 31.6 billion in combat aircraft sales to Greece and Turkey have been approved by the US.
The US State Department authorised the sale of new Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft to Greece and new and upgraded Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft to Turkey in two separate notifications that were posted simultaneously on January 26.
Regarding the first approval, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) stated that “the State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sales [FMS] to the government of Greece of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) aircraft and related equipment for an estimated cost of USD8.6 billion.”
Regarding the second approval, the State Department stated that it had determined that the Republic of [Turkey] might receive a prospective FMS for the acquisition and modernization of F-16 aircraft as well as supporting equipment, at an estimated cost of USD23.0 billion.
