
The State Department has approved a $3.5 billion Patriot missile system deal with Turkey amid congressional concerns on Ankara’s potential purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense system. The potential sale, announced Tuesday evening, would include 80 Patriot MIM-104E Guidance Enhanced and 60 PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement missiles. “Turkey is a member of and critical enabling platform for the Defeat-ISIS campaign and continues to be an essential element of our National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy efforts to compete against great…