The chief of Army Materiel Command said Wednesday he expects foreign military sales of vehicles and weapons systems and other hardware growing this year to as much as $24 billion.
Gen. Dennis Via said countries have seen the effectiveness of Army equipment through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and believes that is a key driver in wanting to acquire the products.
Photo: U.S. Army
“I think they’ve seen the quality of the equipment that the U.S. manufactures and they desire that equipment,” he told reporters attending a roundtable hosted by the Defense Writers’ Group. He estimated sales this year to be in the $18 billion-$24 billion range.
He noted that Qatar is inking a deal for PAC-3 missiles, the shoulder mounted Javelin missile system, as well as AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. He said there has been a lot of interest in the mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles that deployed with U.S. forces to Iraq and Afghanistan. The United Arab Emirates has expressed interest in a “significant” number of MRAPS, as have other countries through foreign military sales agreements.
“Some of them are in the works now,” he said, adding the foreign military sales process “doesn’t move as quickly as we’d like it to.”
Army Materiel Command is looking toward opportunities to support allied and partner nations not just in terms of providing hardware, but also training and lifecycle sustainment as well, all of which would help keep the U.S. industrial base stable while increasing common platforms for joint operations, Via said.
“The plus here is that it increases interoperability with the countries,” the general said.