The Philippines has paused the potential purchase of 20 Lockheed Martin-made F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighters, citing budget constraints. The US State Department had approved the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract, valued at an estimated $5.6 billion, earlier this year.

The aircraft were seen to provide the Philippine Air Force with increased capabilities as it faces rising regional tensions in the Indo-Pacific, notably with China over conflicting claims to the overlapping waters of the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea.

“Right now, I think it’s on hold, mainly because … the funding is the key element of this whole purchase,” Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippine ambassador to the United States, told reporters on Tuesday at the inaugural Manila Strategy Forum organized by the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

The ambassador added that the funding has been a recurring choke point for the maritime Southeast Asian nation.

“We’re still in discussion as far as that’s concerned, but at the end of the day it all boils down to the money—the availability of the funds,” Romualdez explained.

The US maintains a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, obliging either of the two nations to defend the other if attacked.

Manila........

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