President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing whether to go ahead with an $18 billion arms transfer package to Israel that would include dozens of F-15 aircraft, Reuters quotes five sources familiar with the matter as saying.

The sale of 25 F-15s from Boeing Co. (BA.N), opens new tab to Israel has been under review since the United States received the formal request in January 2023, one of the sources said, long before Israel’s six-month-old military campaign in Gaza. This sale would boost that number to as many as 50 F-15s.

Speeding delivery of the aircraft was among the top asks by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who visited Washington last week and held talks with US officials including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, a second source said.

One US official said the earliest the aircraft would be delivered is 2029, and that is if the formal notification were sent to Congress tomorrow and it were finalised immediately.

House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul gave the green light for the F-15 sale on Jan 30, a committee aide said, when the relevant congressional offices responsible for approving major arms transfers were notified.

“Administration-Congressional deliberations on the F-15 case have already occurred,” the second source familiar with the matter said, but added that some of the four offices required to sign off on any arms transfers had yet to do so.