The United States government has given the go signal for the possible foreign military sale of 20 units of F-16 fighter jets to the Philippines for $5.58 billion or approximately P319 billion.
According to a statement released by the US State Department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) on Wednesday, April 2 (Manila time), the Philippine government has requested to buy sixteen units of F-16 C Block 70/72 aircraft and four units of F-16 D Block 70/72 aircraft. The principal contractor would be American aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
The package also includes various weapons systems, radars, guided missile launchers and assorted missiles, anti-aircraft guns, general purpose bombs, attack munition, electronic countermeasure systems, spare parts, engines, and other non-major defense equipment (MDE). It will also provide training, simulators, technical support, and other related elements of logistics and program support.
According to the US DSCA, the 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 proposed sale will enhance the Philippine Air Force’s ability to conduct maritime domain awareness and close air support missions and enhance its suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) and aerial interdiction capabilities,” it said.
“This sale will also increase the ability of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to protect vital interests and territory, as well as expand interoperability with the U.S. forces. The Philippines will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces,” it added.
When asked for a comment, Department of National Defense (DND) spokesperson Asst. Sec. Arsenio Andolong said the DND has not yet received any official notice of the proposed sale from the US government.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) welcomed the development, stressing that it will greatly benefit the modernization of the military, which is now on its third “re-horizon” phase.
“Anything that will modernize us and propel us to greater heights with our assets, we gratefully welcome that for the Armed Forces,” AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said.
PAF spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo deferred to the DND when sought for a comment but added that the Air Force will "continue to perform our mandate as we also look forward to future developments that will further enhance our capabilities to protect our nation and our skies."
The AFP has adjusted the third and final phase of its modernization program into a 10-year defense procurement plan worth P2 trillion and dubbed Re-horizon 3.
Padilla said this phase has been focused heavily on improving the country’s maritime and aerial domain capabilities amid the tension in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and the Indo-Pacific region due to Chinese aggression.
“We have two corvettes coming in from Korea. We have also become heavy on aerial assets and cyber security,” she noted.
Nonetheless, the US State Department’s DSCA expects that the proposed sale of F-16 fighter jets to the Philippines “will not alter the basic military balance in the region.”
The announcement of the potential sale was made after the visit to the country of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last March 28, where he held a bilateral meeting with his Philippine counterpart, DND Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
The two defense ministers agreed to re-establish deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region through the deployment of advanced capabilities to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), enhance the interoperability of Filipino and American troops, prioritize bilateral defense industrial cooperation, and hold a joint cybersecurity campaign.