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Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller announced the transfer of $29.3 million in military equipment to senior Philippine military officials. During a visit to Manila, Miller said the United States would transfer sniper and anti-IED equipment to the country's military.
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Miller met with Philippine Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin Jr. and discussed the importance of the U.S.-Philippine alliance to regional and national security.
Miller also highlighted the more than $23.4 million the United States has sent to the country in COVID-19 assistance and disaster relief for recent typhoon victims as well as ongoing U.S. support for Philippine counterterrorism and maritime security efforts.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to visit the Philippines, the United States' oldest treaty ally in Asia. It was an honor to meet with Secretary Lorenzana and Secretary Loscin to discuss deepening our alliance and supporting a free and open South China Sea and Indo-Pacific region," Miller said in a press release.
"We are grateful for the support provided by the United States as we continuously work on the enhancement of the Philippines' defense capabilities," Secretary Lorenzana said. "The modernization of the AFP will ultimately allow us to respond more effectively to both traditional and non-traditional security threats to our maritime nation."
The equipment will be transferred to several special mission units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to support the force's modernization goals and strengthen its joint precision strike, sniper, riverine, and counter-improvised explosive device capabilities.
According to the DoD, the Philippines is by far the largest recipient of U.S. military assistance in the Indo-Pacific region, having received more than $650 million worth of planes, ships, armored vehicles, small arms and other military equipment from the United States since 2015.
