The United States said it has approved the possible sale of US$5.58bil (RM24.7bil) in F-16 fighter jets to the Philippines, as Washington backs its ally in rising tensions over China.
The State Department said it was green-lighting a sale that includes 20 F-16 jets and related equipment to the Philippines, a treaty-bound ally of the United States.
The sale would “improve the security of a strategic partner that continues to be an important force for political stability, peace and economic progress in South-East Asia,” a State Department statement said.
It would also boost “the Philippine Air Force’s ability to conduct maritime domain awareness” and “enhance its suppression of enemy air defences,” the statement said.
The news follows months of escalating confrontations between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no merit.
A State Department spokesperson said the deal would be final only after “a signed Letter of Offer and Acceptance” was received from the “purchasing partner”.
Philippine defence department spokesman Arsenio Andolong said he had “not received any official notice of such a decision”.
But the Philippines has publicly expressed interest in acquiring F-16s since at least the administration of former president Benigno Aquino that ended in 2016.
Manila and Washington have deepened their defence cooperation since President Ferdinand Marcos took office in 2022 and began pushing back on Beijing’s sweeping South China Sea claims. — AFP
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