MANILA, Philippines — The U.S. State Department has approved a prospective sale of 20 F-16 aircraft to the Philippines, part of a larger package that includes hundreds of medium-range, air-to-air missiles, bombs, anti-aircraft guns and ammunition, worth $5.58 billion.
The official notice of the sale follows U.S. Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth’s trip to the Philippines last week, and it comes ahead of the annual Balikatan exercises, a joint military drill between the long-time treaty allies.
Hegseth’s visit came amid the U.S.’s growing tension with China and as part of what experts and geopolitical watchers describe as Washington’s pivot to Asia. During the visit, Hegseth said Washington plans to “re-establish deterrence” and strengthen its allies in the region.
The proposed aircraft sale to the Philippines will be “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 Defense Security Cooperation Agency stated.
The package includes 16 F-16C Block 70/72 aircraft and 4 F-16D Block 70/72 aircraft, which will be fully equipped with 88 LAU-129 guided missile launchers, 22 M61A1 anti-craft guns with 20 installed upon delivery, 12 AN/AAQ-33 sniper advanced targeting pods, radio systems, AESA radars, and navigational devices.
The package also includes: 112 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAMs) or AIM-120C-8 or equivalent missiles; 36 guided bomb units; 40 AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder missiles with 32 AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder Captive Air Training Missiles (CATMs); 60 MK-84 2,000-lb general-purpose bombs; and 30 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) KMU-572 tail kits for GBU-38 or Laser JDAM GBU-54.
The State Department indicated that offset agreements will be “defined in negotiations between the purchaser and the contractor.”
Lockheed Martin is the principal contractor for the package.
The Philippines has had no frontline fighter jets since it retired its fleet of Northrop F-5 A/Bs in 2005. Negotiations to refresh its fleet hark back to the 1990s, but negotiations did not materialize.
In 2021, the State Department approved the sale of 10 F-16C Block 70/72 and 2 F-16D Block 70/72 aircraft in a $2.43 billion package which did not come through as the Philippines had only earmarked $1.1 billion for the acquisition.
Last year, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the country plans to acquire 40 fighter jets as part of the new Horizon 3, the final phase in a massive push to modernize the military.
President Ferdinand Marcos approved the new Horizon 3 under a 1.89 trillion pesos ($33.6 billion) budget, which will be subject to parliamentary approval in the next ten years.
Also during last year’s budget deliberations, Teodoro told reporters that the department solicits offers with flexible and spread-out financing terms for the 40 jets, adding the military is allotting as much as 400 billion pesos ($6.9 billion) for the acquisition.
The Philippine government has yet to decide on its chosen fighter jets, which is expected to boost its Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, an external defense strategy to protect Philippine territories including its exclusive economic zones in what the Philippine government calls the West Philippine Sea.
Leilani Chavez is an Asia correspondent for Defense News. Her reporting expertise is in East Asian politics, development projects, environmental issues and security.
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