Also announced Friday: The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress that the State Department also approved the possible sale to the Philippines of AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II tactical missiles and related equipment for an additional estimated $42.4 million. In addition: the $120 million sale of AGM-84L-1 Harpoon Air Launched Block II missiles was approved, as well.
Congress still must approve the sales, and the United States and the Philippines can further negotiate terms.
“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner that continues to be an important force for political stability, peace, and economic progress in Southeast Asia,” the agency said Friday.
The government of the Philippines has requested to buy 10 F-16C Block 70/72 aircraft; 2 F-16D Block 70/72 aircraft; 15 F100-PW-229EEP engines or F110-GE-129D engines and more.
In nearly two years, even as a pandemic tore across the globe, foreign military sales overseen by the Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate at Wright-Patterson grew nearly 12%, that directorate’s commander, Brig. Gen. Brian Bruckbauer, told the Dayton Daily News in March.
That growth can be expected to continue, he said at the time.
“I guarantee you, you’ll see a lot of announcements coming up in this year,” predicted the one-star general and former Air Force military fellow to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The directorate has more than 700 people directly assigned to it, with most of them located at Wright-Patterson. The mission also has support offices across the country at Tinker, Hill and other Air Force bases.
About the Author
