New F-16 Fighters Could be Flying for Turkey
Just a day after the Turkish parliament voted to approve Sweden's NATO membership bid, President Joe Biden called upon lawmakers on Capitol Hill to approve the sale of the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon to Turkey.
Just a day after the Turkish parliament voted to approve Sweden's NATO membership bid, President Joe Biden called upon lawmakers on Capitol Hill to approve the sale of the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon to Turkey.
In a letter to Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committees, the president urged Congress to approve the sale of the advanced jet fighters to Ankara "without delay," Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Turkey's delay in approving the ratification of Sweden's NATO bid had been a major obstacle to winning congressional approval for the fighter jet deal – worth a reported $20 billion for 40 newly built aircraft and 79 modernization kits for its existing fleet of Fighting Falcons.
Turkey and the F-16
Ankara has sought to acquire the F-16 after it was formally expelled from the fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II program when it went forward with an acquisition of the Russian-made S-400 "Triumf" air defense system. The United States and NATO have argued that the two systems are not compatible and that it would put the F-35 at risk.
Turkey had been a part of the supply chain for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and reportedly paid $1.25 billion to participate in the effort. Producing parts for the fifth-generation aircraft was expected to have generated $9 billion in revenue for Ankara, while six F-35 aircraft produced for Turkey were not delivered.
As previously reported, Turkey's S-400s have not been activated to date.
The Unstoppable F-16
To date, more than 4,600 F-16 aircraft have been built since production of the Fighting Falcon was approved in 1976 – and while it is no longer being acquired by the U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin continues to build the F-16 for foreign customers around the world. It remains the world's most successful, combat-proven multi-role jet fighter ever produced.
Along with the larger F-15 Eagle, the Fighting Falcon was one of the world's first aircraft to withstand higher g-forces than the pilots. Such are notable accolades for an aircraft that really as a technology demonstrator to determine where it was possible to build a versatile fighter that could be cheaper than the F-15.
The fast and agile F-16 Fighting Falcon isn't just one of the top fighters it is also among the most cost-effective. Though it lacks the range and payload of the larger twin-engine F-15 Eagle, it also costs less than half – which is why the fourth-generation F-16 has been in use since the 1970s and will likely keep flying for many more years to come.
Since it first entered service in 1979, the Fight Falcon has engaged in more than 400,000 combat sorties and has more than a combined 19 million flight hours. Moreover, the F-16 has been adapted to complete several missions, including air-to-air fighting, ground attack, and electronic warfare. As a combat fighter, it has proven to be highly maneuverable while its combat radius exceeds that of its potential threats.
Sweden Is In NATO… Almost.
Historically neutral Sweden and Finland both applied for NATO membership in May 2022 following Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine earlier that year. Finland joined the alliance last April, doubling NATO's border with Russia, but Sweden has faced numerous delays in its path to accession.
Finally this week, Turkey's parliament ratified Sweden's NATO membership bid. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to sign the protocol into law. Erdogan initially objected to Sweden's membership bid, accusing Swedish officials of being too lenient on militant groups, including the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), according to a report from CNN. Stockholm acquiesced and tightened its anti-terror legislation while it agreed to work more closely with Turkey on security concerns.
Yet, Turkey wasn't the final holdout in Sweden's membership bid. Hungary also has to approve the Nordic nation's entry into the international military alliance.
Though Ankara had made its series of demands from Sweden as preconditions, Budapest hasn't called for any similar requirements. Instead, any holdup from Budapest could come down to the whims of populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán – who according to reports was incensed by the comments made by some Swedish politicians that questioned Hungary's democracy.
"It has nothing to do with Sweden now, it has nothing to do with Turkey now. It's merely Orbán's personal attitude," explained Agnes Vadai, a lawmaker from Hungary's opposition Democratic Coalition Party, and former secretary of state in the Ministry of Defense.
"It shows that he's driven not by political rationale, but by personal vanity. There is no gain for Hungary in this game anymore, because it's a game that he's playing," Vadai told the Associated Press this week.
No vote for the protocols for Sweden's NATO accession has appeared on the Hungarian parliament's agenda, and it likely won't go before lawmakers until at least late February.
Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
