US arms sales likely to exceed $40 billion this year: Pentagon
The US government is expected to authorize more than $40 billion worth of foreign military sales this year, the Pentagon has confirmed.
“We are tracking toward $40 billion. We are tracking toward our forecast,” US Navy Vice Admiral Joe Rixey, the head of Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) told Reuters on Wednesday.
The top military official noted that the figure is likely to change depending on the upcoming contracts over the fourth quarter.
The projected figure marks a drop from the $46.6 billion arms sales last year.
However, Rixey said the rising demand for American weapons has “burdened” the government agencies that evaluate and process the contracts.
"It’s not broken but it’s certainly burdened, with $47 billion (in arms sales approvals) in FY15, and we're approaching $40 billion this year," he noted. "We’ve got to make sure that we get better."
The Pentagon is trying to streamline its request approval process and has recently set in motion 40 initiatives for that purpose, Rixey added.
Under current rules, contracts must be approved by the US State Department, Pentagon and the White House. The complex approval process has stalled major contracts with Arab monarchies in the Persian Gulf region.
For instance, a $4 billion deal to sell 36 F-15 fighter jets to Qatar and a $3 billion deal to sell 24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets to Kuwait have stalled for more than a year now.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the companies that build the aircrafts, have recently warned they could be forced to shut down production lines unless they receive new orders.
Rixey’s statement contradicted claims by a senior US Air Force official who said a few days ago that international demand for US weapons is on the rise.
“The appetite just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” US Air Force Deputy Undersecretary Heidi Grant told Reuters.
Grant, who is the air force’s top sales official, said she was particularly working with a number of eastern European countries that are looking to bolster their military forces against Russia.
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