Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Russia Taking Away U.S. Military Sales Because Of The U.S. State Department's Slow Approval Process

A U.S. Marine Corps F-35 Lightening II multi-role fighter jet is escorted by two USMC F-18 Hornets as it flies towards Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in this U.S. Air Force handout photo, dated Jan. 11, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS/AIR FORCE STAFF SGT. JOELY SANTIAGO

IBTimes: Russia Taking US Military Sales As Allies Grow Tired Of Slow White House Process To Buy Weapons

The process of selling U.S. weapons to overseas customers is so cumbersome that it's forcing foreign militaries to buy from Russia instead, the head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Gen. Frank Gorenc, said in an interview Monday. The concern is not only that U.S. companies are missing out on billions of dollars in potential sales; it’s also causing a breakdown in communications on the battlefield.

“I think if they can’t get it from us and they want it, then they go somewhere else,” said Gorenc in the Defense News interview, who agreed that customers were being pushed toward Russia and that using different equipment made communications difficult with allies on the battlefield. “I can’t do any machine-to-machine interface with them because of the cyber work. Now I have to develop the tactics, techniques, procedures or concept of operations that allows us to work together, and we are going to have to overcome the limitation of not being able to communicate.”

Read more ....

Update: Blocking US foreign military sales is a total mistake (Daniel Gouré, Lexington Institute)

WNU Editor: I can understand why countries that are not allies to the U.S. have to undergo this examining process .... but when our allies have to go through it .... something is amiss.

1 comment:

Don Bacon said...

WASHINGTON, Oct 13, 2015 — The Pentagon agency charged with shepherding US arms sales to foreign nations had a high of $46.6 billion in sales in fiscal 2015, up from an average of $40 billion annually in recent years, its chief said Tuesday.