Reuters: “US Congressional committee heads gave informal approval to the deal” – AMPE: “The State Department’s notice does not concern modernization kits”
US President Joe Biden’s administration is set to sell a modernization package for the existing F-16 aircraft of Turkey, after US congressional committee heads gave informal approval to the deal, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The State Department could send the official notification, regarding the sale of radar and software upgrades of the electronic systems, as of today Monday, the sources said.
If approved by Congress during the formal approval process, the package will be the first major military sale to Turkey that Congress has approved in years.
The State Department, which typically declines to comment on pending arms sales, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees, which are supposed to consider the modernization package, declined to comment.
The sources cited by Reuters, a US official and another source with knowledge of the matter, estimate that the deal is worth millions of dollarsbut they couldn’t be more specific.
As the agency comments, (the decision) follows Turkey’s approval of Finland’s accession to NATO and signs of easing tensions between Turkey and Greece ahead of the Turkish elections to be held on May 15.
“The State Department’s notice does not apply to upgrade kits”
However, according to AMPE, the specific notification of the State Department concerns an earlier request for the purchase of defense equipment (worth 260 million dollars), which is not related to the request at all of upgrading modernization kits and the purchase of new fighters (worth $20 billion). Regarding the second request, the Biden administration has chosen not to send the formal notification to Congress as it continues to take seriously the strong objections raised by top US lawmakers.
The notification sent to Congress concerns radar and software upgrades to the Operational Flight Program (OFP) electronic systems with the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (AGCAS) capability.
Source: Skai
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