Philippines defense boss throws cold water on large F-16 buy from US

SINGAPORE — The Philippines’ defense secretary cast doubt on a $5.6 billion purchase of American F-16 fighter jets approved in April, saying Manila hasn’t yet decided whether to move forward with the sale.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a defense summit held in Singapore, Gilberto Teodoro said the Philippines hadn’t yet received a formal offer to purchase the fourth-generation fighters. Even if it had, he said, his department doesn’t know whether it wants them.

“As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing on the table for me to consider,” he said in an interview.

In April, the U.S. State Department approved the potential sale of 20 F-16 fighter jets to the Philippines, as part of a package that also included missiles, bombs and other ammunition. The total was valued at just under $5.6 billion, which would have commanded a massive share of the Philippines’ defense budget.

Manila spends about $6 billion, or 1.3% of its GDP , on its military each year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank.

Teodoro referred to the purported sale as “media hype,” without explaining why the State Department initially approved it.

“We have not even decided, number one, when we will acquire a multi-role fighter and what model,” he said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the Philippines in March as the U.S. upgrades its alliance with the country in an effort to better compete with China. The two met again over the weekend in Singapore, where Hegseth warned that the military threat Beijing poses “could be imminent” and urged allies to spend more on defense.

To some Philippine officials, the sale of fighter jets was a sign of long-term U.S. commitment and a show of trust that their military could handle such advanced equipment. But soon after the announcement other officials from the country began to question how they could afford such a large purchase without American assistance.

The U.S. sent the Philippines $500 million in long-term security aid last year but would need Congress to pass more in order to continue such support.

During the Biden administration, the U.S. and Philippines agreed on a “roadmap” of weapons to purchase in the years ahead as Manila upgrades its military. That plan largely consists of equipment to help survey and protect the Philippines’ vast coastlines, not high-end fighter jets.

At the conference here, Teodoro had a testy exchange with Chinese delegates in attendance, who asked critical questions about the Philippines’ alliance with the United States.

Chinese coast guard vessels routinely harass Philippine ships in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims as its own despite a contrary ruling in 2016 from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“China has a lot of trust building to do to be an effective negotiating partner,” Teodoro said during remarks on stage. “We have to call a spade a spade.”

Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

新加坡——菲律宾国防部长对4月份批准的价值56亿美元的美国F-16战斗机采购计划表示怀疑，称马尼拉尚未决定是否推进这笔交易。

在新加坡举行的香格里拉对话防务峰会期间，吉尔伯托·特奥多罗表示，菲律宾尚未收到购买第四代战斗机的正式报价。他表示，即使收到了报价，他的部门也尚未决定是否需要这些战机。

“就我而言，没有什么需要考虑的，”他在一次采访中说道。

今年4月，美国国务院批准向菲律宾出售20架F-16战斗机，这笔军售还包括导弹、炸弹和其他弹药。总价值略低于56亿美元，这将占据菲律宾国防预算的很大一部分。

据智库斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所称，马尼拉每年在军事上的花费约为 60 亿美元，占其国内生产总值的 1.3%。

特奥多罗称这笔所谓的交易是“媒体炒作”，但没有解释为什么国务院最初批准了这笔交易。

“我们甚至还没有决定，首先，我们何时采购多用途战斗机以及采购哪种型号，”他说。

美国国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯三月访问菲律宾，美国此举旨在提升与菲律宾的联盟关系，以更好地与中国竞争。上周末，两人在新加坡再次会晤。赫格塞斯警告称，北京构成的军事威胁“可能迫在眉睫”，并敦促盟友增加国防开支。

对一些菲律宾官员来说，出售战斗机是美国长期承诺的标志，也是对菲律宾军队能够驾驭如此先进装备的信任。但消息公布后不久，菲律宾其他官员就开始质疑，如果没有美国的援助，他们如何负担得起如此巨额的采购。

美国去年向菲律宾提供了 5 亿美元的长期安全援助，但要继续提供此类援助，还需要国会通过更多法案。

在拜登政府时期，美国和菲律宾就未来几年马尼拉升级军备所需的武器采购“路线图”达成一致。该计划主要包括用于勘测和保护菲律宾漫长海岸线的设备，而非高端战斗机。

在本次会议上，特奥多罗与出席会议的中国代表发生了激烈的争论，中国代表就菲律宾与美国的联盟提出了尖锐的问题。

中国海警船经常在南海骚扰菲律宾船只，尽管联合国海洋法公约在 2016 年做出了相反的裁决，但北京仍声称南海是其领土。

特奥多罗在台上发言时说：“中国要成为有效的谈判伙伴，还有很多建立信任的工作要做。我们必须实话实说。”

诺亚·罗伯逊是《防务新闻》的五角大楼记者。他此前曾为《基督教科学箴言报》报道国家安全新闻。他拥有弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡威廉与玛丽学院的英语和政治学学士学位。