US President Joe Biden has formally asked Congress to approve the sale of upgraded weapons systems, radars and other technical equipment to significantly improve the capabilities of Turkey's fleet of F-16 fighter jets, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The potential deal represents a major development in Ankara-Washington relations and is the result of Turkey's demonstrated significant support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion.

Ankara sent a request to the US to buy missiles and radars to be installed on Turkish-owned US F-16 fighter jets, the total cost of the equipment requested by Turkish authorities exceeds $400 million.

Turkey requested 40 F-16 Block 70 fighters and 80 Block 70 upgrades for its air force. Ankara announced about the desire to purchase F-16s after it was excluded from the program of producing the fifth-generation fighters F-35 in connection with the purchase of air defense systems S-400 from Russia.