Defense News:


MELBOURNE, Australia — The U.S. State Department has paved the way for the Philippines to potentially acquire Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole fighter jets and associated weapons, as the U.S. ally moves toward a decision for a key component of its military modernization program.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, or DSCA, notification released Thursday afternoon cleared the Southeast Asian nation to buy:

• 10 F-16C Block 70/72 aircraft.
• Two two-seat F-16D Block 70/72 aircraft.
• 15 Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 scalable agile beam radars.
• 24 Raytheon AIM-120 advanced, medium-range, air-to-air missiles in the C-7 or C-8 variant.
• Bombs.
• GPS/laser guidance kits.
• Associated and support equipment.

The package is worth an estimated $2.43 billion.



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