The U.S. State Department notified Congress that it approved the sale of F-16 jet Link-16 tactical data link modernization kits to Türkiye on Monday, sources said.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency has not released a formal statement, but sources noted the kit includes relevant equipment and engineering assistance necessary to upgrade the Link-16 tactical data link to the level of “Block Upgrade-2,” Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
Congress has 15 days to approve or reject the State Department decision.
Link-16 is a military radio network, also known as a tactical data link (TDL), used by NATO and allied countries.
It provides tactical information sharing between aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), ships and ground forces.
Türkiye has been seeking to modernize its existing fleet to update its air force and sought to buy 40 Lockheed Martin F-16 jets and nearly 80 modernization kits from the U.S., a deal reportedly valued at $20 billion (TL 379.15 billion).
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