The State Department said Wednesday that it had approved the sale of 32 F-35 fighter jets to Poland.

The sale is worth $6.5 billion and is only the latest in a series of major US military sales to the European country.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The US State Department said on Wednesday it had approved a proposed sale of 32 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets worth $6.5 billion to Poland.

In April, the Pentagon told Congress it was considering selling the jets to the European nation, a NATO member, as well as Greece, Romania, Spain and Singapore.

The sale would boost Poland's contributions to NATO and reduce the country's dependence on Russian equipment, replacing Poland's MiG-29 and Su-22 fleet, a State Department official said in a statement. "Poland will have no difficulty absorbing these aircraft into its armed forces," the statement said.

During the Cold War, Poland, which shares borders with Russia and fellow NATO member Germany, belonged to the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

The sale also includes 33 Pratt & Whitney F-135 engines, electronic warfare, command and control, communications, navigation, and logistics systems, tools and test equipment, spares and repair parts, personnel training and training equipment, and other support for the F-35.

The approval of the sale comes days after US Vice President Mike Pence visited Poland, a key ally in the region, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II.

The F-35 sale is also the latest in a series of major defense buys by Poland. In 2018, Poland agreed to buy 20 High Mobility Artillery Rocket launchers for $414 million and signed a $4.7 billion deal for the Patriot missile system, the largest arms deal in its history, according to Breaking Defense.

Under President Donald Trump, the United States has rolled out a "Buy American" plan that relaxed restrictions on sales and encouraged US officials to take a bigger role in increasing business overseas for the American weapons industry.

However, the US began the process in April to remove Turkey from the multinational F-35 program after Ankara said it would proceed in purchasing a Russian S-400 missile-defense system that NATO officials say is not compatible with the F-35.

Congress was notified of the State Department's approval on Tuesday, a State Department official said.

(Reporting by Bryan Pietsch, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Jonathan Oatis)