Saudi, Japan Deals Drive Record U.S. Arms Sales
June 16th, 2012Via: AFP:
Boosted by massive fighter jet deals with Saudi Arabia and Japan, US foreign military sales have shot past $50 billion in a record-breaking year, a senior US official said Thursday.
Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, underlined that the United States also hopes to boost sales with India, which is mulling a $1.4 billion deal for 22 Apache helicopters.
“Today, I can confirm that this is already a record-breaking year for foreign military sales. We have already surpassed $50 billion in sales in fiscal year 2012,” which ends September 30, Shapiro told journalists in a conference call.
This figure already represents a 70 percent increase over government-to-government sales by the United States in 2011, itself a record-setting year at just over $30 billion.
“Obviously the sale to Saudi Arabia was very significant,” said Shapiro, referring to a $29.4 billion deal that included 84 Boeing-made F-15SA fighter jets and upgrades to its existing fleet of 70 F-15s.
“But this number also includes the sale of the Joint Strike Fighter to Japan, which is valued at approximately $10 billion,” the official said.
