State Department approves potential $3.5B Patriot interceptor sale to Turkey

By Justin Doubleday / December 19, 2018 at 9:07 AM

The State Department has approved a possible, multibillion-dollar foreign military sale of Patriot air and missile defense interceptors to Turkey, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced last night.

Turkey has requested the potential purchase of 80 Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missiles (GEM-T) and 60 PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhanced (MSE) interceptors, according to the DSCA announcement. The deal would also include four AN/MPQ-65 radar sets, four Engagement Control Stations, 10 Antenna Mast Groups, 20 M903 Launching Stations and other related equipment.

The approved package is estimated to cost $3.5 billion, according to DSCA. The State Department officially notified Congress of the potential deal yesterday. Lawmakers will have 15 days to review the purchase. 

Turkey’s request may indicate U.S. officials have had some success in convincing Ankara to forego its planned purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system and opt for an American system instead.

However, the State Department’s approval does not mean a contract has been signed or the sale has been concluded.

The S-400 deal is among a host of contentious issues animating the recent relationship between Washington and Ankara. The Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act prohibits the transfer of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, pending an assessment of U.S.-Turkey relations.

Meanwhile, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act signed into law last year automatically sanctions countries who purchase Russian arms.

During a media roundtable at the Farnborough Airshow in July, Tina Kaidanow, acting assistant secretary of state for political military affairs, pointed to the CAATSA sanctions when asked about Turkey’s planned S-400 purchase. She said U.S. officials were working to convince allies that the purchase of such systems supports some of Russia’s “least good behavior” in Europe and elsewhere.

“We want them to understand the downsides, the real serious downsides to making these acquisitions, and particularly the S-400 acquisitions from the Russians, and to continue to instead, to look to our systems and to put interoperability and all the other things we care about first,” Kaidanow said. “And that’s been the effort, whether with respect to Turkey or any other country that’s impacted by this set of issues.”

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also said Turkey’s planned S-400 purchase is problematic because it would not be interoperable with alliance equipment.

"I hope that it's possible to find a solution because what we see now is a challenge for all of us that there is this disagreement on the issue of S-400," Stoltenberg said in September. "NATO has been a kind of platform for this dialogue. Turkey is a very important ally for NATO for many reasons, but not least for its geographic location."

 

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