The United States has approved the potential sale of 20 F-16 fighter jets to Manila, giving the key US ally in the Indo-Pacific a major upgrade to its air force just days after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed to counter \u201cChina\u2019s aggression.\u201d <\/p>\n
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced the proposed sale of the F-16s and related equipment, worth an estimated $5.58 billion, in a statement on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis 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,\u201d DSCA said. <\/p>\n
The announcement comes less than a week after Hegseth visited the Philippines, his first trip to Asia as defense chief, and said Washington will enhance its military alliance with Manila as it aims to \u201creestablish deterrence\u201d to counter \u201cChina\u2019s aggression\u201d in the Indo-Pacific region. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, China cautioned Manila on the deal. <\/p>\n
\u201cAny defense and security cooperation that the Philippines engages in with other countries should not target or harm the interests of any third party, nor should it threaten regional peace and security or escalate tensions in the region,\u201d Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs for who is fueling the flames, who is provoking military confrontation, and who is turning Asia into a powder keg, we believe that regional countries can see the situation clearly.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Philippines has been on the front lines of China\u2019s increasingly aggressive posture in Asia. Beijing seeks to assert its claim over the bulk of the South China Sea, despite an international ruling denying its sovereignty over the waterway. <\/p>\n
Hegseth said Friday the US would deploy additional advanced military capabilities to the US ally for joint training, enhance interoperability for \u201chigh end operations\u201d and prioritize defense industrial cooperation. <\/p>\n
In its statement, DSCA said Manila had requested to buy 16 F-16Cs \u2013 single-seat, single-engine fighter jets \u2013 and four F-16Ds, dual-seat jets that are usually used for training purposes. <\/p>\n
The F-16s are the block 70\/72 newest variant of the workhorse military warplane, which entered service with the US Air Force in the late 1970s. <\/p>\n
Manufacturer Lockheed Martin says the new F-16s are the world\u2019s most advanced fourth-generation fighter, touting a \u201cstructural service life\u201d of more than 12,000 hours. <\/p>\n
The F-16s, along with advanced avionics, radar and weaponry included in the deal, are a significant upgrade to the Philippine Air Force\u2019s fighter fleet. Currently, it has only 12 South Korean-made FA-50 jets, a lighter ground attack and fighter jet. <\/p>\n
The F-16s have a top speed of more than 1,500 miles per hour, Lockheed Martin says, about 350 mph faster than the FA-50. <\/p>\n
Speaking alongside Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro on Friday, Hegseth called the US-Philippine relationship an \u201cironclad alliance, particularly in the face of Communist China\u2019s aggression in the region.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Trump administration has vowed to \u201ctruly prioritize a shift\u201d to the Indo-Pacific, Hegseth said, with the \u201crecognition that for the 21st century to be a free century, America needs to stand alongside our allies and partners shoulder to shoulder.\u201d <\/p>\n
The American military presence in Asia is seen by allies as a critical counterbalance in a fractious region where China has been rapidly expanding its military might and a belligerent North Korea has been empowered by closer ties with Russia. <\/p>\n
Trump has repeatedly questioned the structure of US military alliances and whether the US was getting enough out of such partnerships and basing arrangements, including those in Asia where tens of thousands of troops are stationed in sprawling bases in Japan and South Korea. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United States has approved the potential sale of 20 F-16 fighter jets to Manila, giving the key US ally in the Indo-Pacific a major upgrade to its air force just days after US Defense…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5946,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}