Afghanistan has topped all nations this year in purchases of U.S. weapon systems through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, a growing Pentagon operation brokering more sales than expected, a defense official said.
All such U.S.-arranged foreign military sales are expected to reach $34 billion in the current fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, which is more than predicted and significantly higher than the $23 billion tally in fiscal year 2007, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which manages the FMS effort.
“Our program is growing by leaps and bounds,” Jeanne Farmer, principal director of DSCA’s programs directorate, said Wednesday at the ComDef 2008 conference in Washington, D.C. Early this decade annual foreign military sales handled by her office totaled closer to $13 billion, she said.
“As far as what we predict the future to be, we do expect to continue to have large, large sales, both because of the environment we’re working in, and we want to help our allies as best we can,” she said.
Afghanistan tops the list of countries that have received DSCA-brokered sales thus far this fiscal year, with its $6 billion in such purchases. That amount easily eclipses FMS deals with Iraq, which total $1.9 billion so far for FY ’08, Farmer said.
Iraq doesn’t even fall in the top five countries receiving U.S. equipment from the FMS effort this fiscal year, and lands at No. 6. Yet Farmer was quick to note Iraqi sales are likely higher than $1.9 billion when other, non-FMS transactions are included.
She said her office spends “a great deal of time working the Iraq program.”
DSCA has its own cell dedicated to Iraq. Farmer said managing it can be tricky, because DSCA does not have an office to work with in Iraq, such as the security assistance or cooperation outfits that many allied nations have in their embassies.
“So, because of that, we pretty much hand massage everything,” she said.
For Afghanistan, the big-ticket items the nation bought this fiscal year include AM General‘s Humvees, along with small arms and ammunition, she said.
Saudi Arabia falls second on the list of FMS-receiving countries in FY ’08, with $6 billion in purchases thus far including Boeing [BA]-built AH-64 Apache helicopters and Joint Direct Attack Munition kits. The Middle Eastern nation is upgrading its Boeing-made E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, and also improving upon “some other significant items,” Farmer said.
Morocco made an unusual entry into FMS top-five list this year, landing the No. 4 spot.
“They signed an F-16 program (for the Lockheed Martin jet fighter) and they’re currently averaging sales for this year of $2.2 billion, which is a fairly significant amount for that country,” she said.
Egypt remains in the top-five countries for FMS in FY ’08, Farmer said, noting the northern African nation often often has high foreign military sales because it receives grant financing from the United States.
Israel is not in this year’s top-five list. It typically does not have a larger volume of U.S. weapons purchases through the FMS program, because it buys many defense items commercially, Farmer said.
DSCA is concerned about follow-on efforts for some FMS-arranged programs, she said.
“Up until (the) 9/11 (attacks) our programs were pretty much focused on the long-term relationship,” she said. Back then, she added, the terms would be, “We’ll sell you this fighter aircraft, these tanks, this helicopter, ships. And it’ll be a multiyear effort to get the program and you’ll have 10, 20 years of follow-on support. And we will have developed the relationship over time. In the current environment everybody needs everything right now. We are trying to react as quickly as we can to our coalition partners both in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Some defense items foreign nations are receiving via the FMS program have “large tails” associated with them, and thus need follow-on funding, she added.
DSCA is now working with 207 countries, she said. It works closely with the State Department and uses the Pentagon’s Guidance for the Employment of the Force to guide its FMS effort.