The United States has delivered new weapons to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as part of Washington’s commitment to continue to assist the military in its equipage and ongoing modernization program.
A statement issued by the US Embassy on Thursday said that officials of the Joint United States Military Assistance Group -Philippines (JUSMAG-P) handed over P48.5 million ($1 million) worth of new weapons and munitions to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at Clark Freeport.
The weapons included 14 M2A1 .50 caliber heavy machine guns, seven M240B machine guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The delivery was made possible through a US grant assistance. “The delivery is intended to enhance the AFP’s counterterrorism capabilities and readiness,” the US Embassy said.
“As the United States and Philippines celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations today, we welcome this key equipment transfer, which will support the continued readiness of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” it also quoted JUSMAG-P chief and senior defense official to the Philippines Col. Stephen Ma.
“The Philippines is the largest recipient of US military assistance in the Indo-Pacific. Since 2015, the United States has provided more than P48.6 billion [$1 billion] in security assistance to the Philippines,” the statement read.
Several weeks ago, the US also gave weapons to the AFP and months back, it also provided ordnance and bunker-busting missiles.
On Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III offered assistance to the military, which is in the middle of investigating the crash of a C-130 in Sulu that killed 49 military personnel and wounded 47 others.
During his phone conversation with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Austin also offered the US help in identifying the remains of soldiers, which were charred as a result of the weekend crash.