Pentagon: 2016 military sales to foreign partners totals $33.6B

The Pentagon agency in charge of security assistance to other nations announced Tuesday that total U.S. sales of military equipment and services to foreign partners totaled $33.6 billion for fiscal 2016. 

{mosads}The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a release that the total sales include $2.9 billion of Foreign Military Financing-funded cases; $5 billion in Building Partner Capacity-funded cases; and $25.7 billion funded by partner nations. 

“Fiscal Year 2016 sales were strong and demonstrate that the FMS process is responsive,” Vice Adm. Joseph Rixey, the DSCA director, said. 

The total is a decrease from last year, which was $47 billion. 

However, Rixey said year-to-year comparisons are misleading.  

“Whether a sale is ‘counted’ under one fiscal year or the next is dependent on when each case is implemented, so comparison of the year-to-year totals can be misleading. Instead, when you examine the three-year moving sales averages, you can see the continuing, growing sales-trend over the last decade,” he said in the release. 

“This year’s totals indicate that our partners continue to seek the quality products and services we offer,” he said.