While the world is shrouded in the clouds of COVID-19, the world's top arms dealers are frantically peddling weapons. The U.S. "Defense News" said on the 6th that the United States approved a package of foreign arms sales agreements of up to $7.5 billion in one day.
According to reports, the US State Department announced on the 6th that it has approved the sale of military equipment worth a total of $7.5 billion to 5 countries, including the supply of UH-60M "Black Hawk" helicopters to Lithuania, the export of E-2D "Hawkeye" early warning aircraft to France, the supply of MV-22 "Osprey" tilt-wing transport aircraft to Indonesia, the export of "Stryker" armored vehicles to Argentina and the provision of special fuels for Israel.
One of the most concerned is the "Osprey" transport aircraft provided to Indonesia. The agreement, which is worth a total of $2 billion, includes spare engines, infrared radar, missile early warning systems and machine guns in addition to the eight transport aircraft themselves. Ospreys can take off and land vertically like helicopters or fly at high speeds like fixed-wing aircraft. The world's only mass-produced tilt-wing transport aircraft has entered service with the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force. Indonesia will thus become the second overseas country after Japan to acquire such an aircraft. The U.S. State Department claims that the sale of ospreys to Indonesia will help improve interoperability with U.S. forces in combat. Russian satellite network said on the 7th that MV-22 is particularly suitable for Indonesia with 17,000 islands, and its vertical take-off and landing capabilities will greatly improve the transportation capacity of the Indonesian army. Defense News believes that the United States hopes to use this arms sale to enhance the strength of Indo-Pacific allies against China.
According to the report, the highest total value is the military fuel provided to Israel. The shipment, which is about 990 million gallons of petroleum products, is worth more than $3 billion. Among them, JP-8 jet fuel will be used for Israeli aircraft in service, while diesel and unleaded gasoline will be mainly used for ground vehicles.
In addition, France plans to spend $2 billion on the purchase of three E-2D Hawkeye AWACS aircraft, replace the old E-2C Hawkeye AWACS aircraft used on the CHARLES DE Gaulle carrier, and "maintain interoperability with U.S. Naval forces." Lithuania plans to spend $380 million on six Black Hawk helicopters to replace the Mi-8 helicopters equipped in the Soviet era. "The United States has been providing financial assistance to European allies to accelerate the process of their allies' s separation from Russian-made equipment and allowing interoperability with U.S. and NATO forces to respond quickly to various missions," the report said. Argentina is preparing to spend $100 million on the introduction of 27 Stryker armored vehicles and corresponding training services.
(Global Times)