Washington approves $23 billion sale of F-16 warplanes to Turkey

Ending months of negotiations, the U.S. government on Friday approved a $23 billion deal to sell F-16 warplanes to Turkey, after Ankara ratified Sweden’s NATO membership, the State Department said.

As required by U.S. law, the State Department notified Congress of the agreement, as well as a separate $8.6 billion sale of 40 F-35s to Greece.

Turkey will get 40 new F-16s and upgrades to 79 of the jets in its existing fleet, the State Department said in a news release.