Erdogan Seeks Biden Meeting to Talk $6 Billion Arms Deal Request
- Turkish leader aims to overcome U.S. resistance to arms sales
- Formal purchase request sent to U.S. last month: officials
This article is for subscribers only.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to use an upcoming global summit to lobby U.S. President Joe Biden to allow Ankara to buy dozens of American warplanes, in a bid to overcome Washington’s resistance to major arms deals with his country following its purchase of Russian air defenses.
Turkey sent a formal request to the U.S. on Sept. 30 to purchase 40 new F-16 Block 70 aircraft and nearly 80 kits from Lockheed Martin Corp. to modernize its existing F-16 fighters, two Turkish officials familiar with the matter said. The deal is potentially worth $6 billion, they said, but approval will be difficult to win, given Congress’s opposition to the Russian S-400 missile purchase and Turkey’s own uncompromising stance.