The US State Department signed off on a series of arms sales to the Philippines, the largest being a $2.43 sale of 12 F-16 fighter jets and related equipment, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said.
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“The Government of the Philippines has requested to buy ten (10) F-16C Block 70/72 aircraft [and] two (2) F-16D Block 70/72 aircraft,” a DSCA press release said on Thursday.
The F-16 sale also includes a lengthy list of equipment, including spare engines, Advanced Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars, tactical computers, AMRAAM missiles, missile launchers, sniper targeting pods, an electronic warfare suite, more than two dozen other weapons systems as well as technical and logistics support, the release said.
“The proposed sale will improve the Philippines’ capability to meet current and future threats by enabling the Philippines to deploy fighter aircraft with precision munitions in support of counterterrorism operations in the southern Philippines,” the release added.
DSCA also announced two additional State Department-approved sales in separate press releases:12 Harpoon Block II air-launched Harpoon missiles with related equipment for $120 million and 24 Sidewinder Block II tactical missiles with related equipment for $42.4 million.
