Philippines struggles to raise the money necessary to purchase US F-16 jets

The Philippines has been grappling with the issue of how to pay for the expensive acquisition of 12 F-16 fighter jets ever since the United States authorized their possible sale to the country in 2021.

The Philippine ambassador to the United States, Jose Manuel Romualdez, told reporters last month in an interview that they needed to figure out a long-term financing solution since it was still too costly.

The nation is thinking about a few different approaches, like buying used planes instead of new ones or getting financial assistance from Washington.

The United States predicted that the aircraft and associated equipment would cost $2.43 billion when the deal was announced in June 2021, which is more than half of the Philippines' yearly defense budget. The purpose of the aircraft is to monitor China's air and marine activities in the South China Sea.

According to Romualdez, it is "possible" to back out of the tentative agreement to purchase new F-16s from the United States and purchase used aircraft from a third nation like Denmark.

The ambassador stated that Denmark was intended to be the source of the F-16s. He went on to say that he believed there were at least a dozen barely-used F-16s. He pointed out that in order to permit the use of the national budget for used equipment, Manila would need to alter its laws.

Denmark could not have transferred the American-made aircraft to a third country without first obtaining U.S. consent.

The U.S. decision was motivated by Washington's need to counter China's increasing influence in its backyard, as there had been media allegations that Beijing had offered the South American nation fighter aircraft as an alternative.

Denmark also chose to donate the planes to Ukraine in order to support that country's military campaign against Russia, effectively depleting Denmark's F-16 fighter stock.