{"id":823,"date":"2015-04-08T20:17:47","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T17:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=823"},"modified":"2015-04-08T20:17:47","modified_gmt":"2015-04-08T17:17:47","slug":"us-to-sell-pakistan-1-billion-in-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=823","title":{"rendered":"US to Sell Pakistan $1 Billion in Weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US is closing in on a nearly billion-dollar arms deal with Pakistan, saying it will protect American interests in South Asia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Bell<\/a>

Bell AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter(\u00a9 Flickr\/ Mario Sainz Mart\u00ednez)<\/p><\/div>\n

The $952 million sale, approved by\u00a0the US State Department on\u00a0Monday, will comprise of\u00a015 AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters and 1,000 Hellfire II missiles. The deal will also includes engines, targeting and positioning systems, and other equipment, according to\u00a0an announcement by\u00a0the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).<\/p>\n

“This proposed sale of\u00a0helicopters and weapon systems will provide Pakistan with\u00a0military capabilities in\u00a0support of\u00a0its counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in\u00a0South Asia,” the agency said in\u00a0a statement.<\/p>\n

DSCA had sent the proposal to\u00a0Congress, citing its intention to\u00a0support Pakistan\u2019s counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations with “precise-strike, enhanced-survivability aircraft that can operate at\u00a0high-altitudes.”<\/p>\n

The agency stressed that the deal will “not alter the basic military balance in\u00a0the region,” and will contribute to\u00a0the “foreign policy and national security of\u00a0the United States by\u00a0helping to\u00a0improve the security of\u00a0a country vital to\u00a0US foreign policy and national security goals in\u00a0South Asia.”<\/p>\n

Pakistan had put in\u00a0requests for\u00a0the defense equipment, including helicopters, engines, missiles and computers.<\/p>\n

“By acquiring this capability, Pakistan will enhance its ability to\u00a0conduct operations in\u00a0North Waziristan Agency, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and other remote and mountainous areas in\u00a0all-weather, day-and-night environments,” the proposal said.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s army has been battling militants in\u00a0North Waziristan for\u00a0the past\u00a0year and has been involved in\u00a0fierce clashes with\u00a0the homegrown Taliban insurgency since\u00a0it was revived in\u00a02004.<\/p>\n

In December, Taliban gunmen killed 154 people when they attacked a school in\u00a0Peshawar.<\/p>\n

The US sale of\u00a0military equipment, which will also involve technical support and training, will be implemented over\u00a0a period of\u00a0five and a half years. It comes after\u00a0China confirmed a plan to\u00a0sell eight submarines to\u00a0Pakistan for $5 billion.<\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong>\u00a0MOSCOW (Sputnik<\/a>) \u2013 April 8, 2015<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US is closing in on a nearly billion-dollar arms deal with Pakistan, saying it will protect American interests in South Asia. The $952 million sale, approved by\u00a0the US State Department on\u00a0Monday, will comprise...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,173,1,7,31,28,18],"tags":[689,688,692,691,693,690,356,694],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":825,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions\/825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}