Turkey to Pare Back $23 Billion Deal for F-16 Jets With US (2)

Turkey is scaling back a planned $23 billion defense contract with the US to modernize NATO’s second largest fleet of F-16 fighter jets and will seek an offset agreement to produce some warplane parts locally.

Ankara has been trying since 2021 to buy 40 of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s latest generation F-16s, 79 kits to modernize its existing fleet as well as hundreds of bombs and missiles. The US approved the sale earlier this year after Turkey ratified Sweden’s membership in the alliance.

But Turkey is now pushing to buy fewer upgrade kits and munitions to save billions of dollars ...