By Logan Williams, Warrior Editorial Fellow
Just days ago, the Biden Administration approved a $23-billion deal to provide Türkiye with 40 new F-16 fighter jets, and to modernize Türkiye’s existing fleet of 79 F-16 airframes. Türkiye is a member of NATO, however, its relationship with the United States has soured, due to its increasingly close ties to Russia, Turkish President Erdoğan’s increasingly ethnoreligious, right-wing, populist nationalism, and due to Türkiye’s continued abuse of its Kurdish minority.
In a matter of hours after approving the sale of F-16 fighters to Türkiye, the United States approved another such deal, this time to sell 40 F-35 fighter jets (just under $10-billion worth) to Greece, Türkiye’s arch-nemisis. This deal also included a gift of the United States’ so-called Excess Defense Articles (EDA) – equipment deemed useless to the U.S. military – amounting to various aircraft components and 60 Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
This deal was likely highly-political. Greece was dissatisfied with the United States’ sale of F-16 fighters to Türkiye, for fear that these fighter jets would, in turn, be used to threaten Greek national interests. The United States’ approval of the F-35 sale, long-awaited by the Greek government, was likely the Biden Administration’s best attempt to mollify an ally of ever-increasing importance.
On the other hand, the United States’ sale of the cutting-edge, fifth-generation F-35 fighters to Greece, will likely incense Erdoğan and the Turkish government, as Türkiye was expelled from the F-35 program in 2019. Türkiye’s expulsion came as a consequence of its decision to purchase weaponry from Russia, notably, the S-400 air defense system, in direct contravention of NATO policy, and in an egregious abdication of Türkiye’s duties to the alliance. Türkiye’s ability to complete a modernization of its armed forces is greatly hindered by its estrangement from the NATO alliance.
In fact, the United States had long delayed the sale of the approved F-16 legacy fighter jets, due to distrust of its Turkish partner; however, Türkiye successfully tied the completion of the F-16 sale to Sweden’s successful accession as a member of the NATO alliance, and upon the Turkish Parliament’s ratification of a measure acquiescing to Sweden’s NATO membership, as well as Washington’s receipt of the Turkish instruments of this ratification, the Biden Administration reluctantly handed over the keys – so to speak – to the legacy F-16 aircraft.
The United States’ sale of the F-35 aircraft to Greece dramatically alters the balance of power in the Mediterranean, although, this alteration isn’t without precedent — this balance has been steadily leaning toward Greece in recent years. The United States, which typically has a policy of maintaining deference to a regional power balance when making policy decisions, is likely to become even more comfortable with interfering with that balance, the longer Türkiye continues to choose to be an antagonist.
Logan Williams currently studies at the University of Connecticut. He is an International Affairs Researcher; Work Published in Newspapers, Magazines, and Journals, Such As: Geopolitics Magazine, Modern Diplomacy, Tufts University’s The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Democracy Paradox, Diario Las Américas, International Affairs Forum, Fair Observer, History Is Now Magazine, UNC at Chapel Hill’s American Diplomacy, The Center for Military Modernization’s Warrior Maven Magazine,
