26 November 2001
EUCOM's long history of weapons sales
U.S. sells millions of arms across the globe every year
By David Josar,
Stuttgart bureau
Stars and Stripes, European edition

U.S. military officials in Europe have helped everyone from Central Asia to Africa buy the right equipment — the right U.S. equipment.

In the past year, the U.S. European Command served as the go-between for about $13 billion in weapons sales, and will continue to help countries purchase everything from boots to bombers.

EUCOM officials, however, are not peddling F-16s or surface to air missiles; they’re simply carrying out their orders by helping the Department of Defense fill its orders.

Brokering a weapons deal is a complex process that involves a number of agencies and departments in several nations. On the American side, a deal often involves consulting a command’s commander in chief, defense officials and a secretary of state representative.

Last year, the single largest buyer in EUCOM’s 91-country area of responsibility was Israel, spending $2.9 billion; the entire Middle East region under EUCOM bought $5.9 billion worth of equipment.

Europe bought $3.7 billion of military supplies. Of that, Italy spent $81.5 million, mostly for F-16 jet fighters; Greece spent $800 million, again mostly on fighter aircraft; and the United Kingdom spent $680 million.

“We’re not marketers,” Steven Jones, deputy of the international division of EUCOM’s Logistics and Security Assistance Directorate, said. “We’re reactive. Sales are a non-profit, no-loss cause. We can’t subsidize the sales.”

The U.S. military, through a variety of programs, provides billions of dollars in military equipment, services and training.

The programs include Foreign Military Sales, Foreign Military Financing-Commercial Sales, Excess Defense Articles, Emergency Drawdown and International Military Education and Training.

Roughly 95 percent of the sales are made through the Foreign Military Sales program, according to the General Accounting Office.

“We see some of the things they have, and we want them, too,” Konstandinos Columbus, a spokesman for the Greek Army, said. “We see what they have when we train together. We try it out. And then we go about buying it.”

According to a Sept. 21 General Accounting Office report to U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., from fiscal year 1991 to fiscal year 2000, the United States made $74 billion in such sales to countries in the Middle East.

The United States sold F-16 and F/A-18 fighter aircraft, Apache and Cobra helicopters, M1A1 tanks, advanced medium range air-to-air missiles, Army Tactical Missile Systems and Stinger Missiles.

Similar sales to fighters in Afghanistan during the 1980s resulted in Stinger missiles falling into the hands of the Taliban.

The largest recipient in the Middle East, according to the GAO report, was Saudi Arabia, which received $33.5 billion in help. The second largest buyer was Israel, which received $18.8 billion in materials over that period.

The United States even sold supplies to the Palestine Police. In 1994, according to the GAO report, the police received $4 million in equipment and in 1995 they received $5 million in goods.

Both types of aid were considered “non-lethal,” according to the report, and included trucks, Jeeps, informs and medical equipment obtained from the Defense Department’s “Emergency Drawdown” program.

An important part of the sales program, EUCOM officials said, is that the United States doesn’t sell a country weapons they can’t afford to maintain.

Again, the United States recently began leasing F-16 fighters to Poland because that would be more affordable than trying to buy the jets and then spending money on upkeep.

“We don’t want to bankrupt the country,” Jones said.

That’s why EUCOM officials evaluate what a country needs as well as its ability to pay maintain what it buys.

On a fighter aircraft, for example, the lifetime cost to maintain it might be more than the purchase price.

An F-16 costs roughly $25 million, depending on its capabilities, but could cost $8 million a year to keep it running.

According to the GAO report and interviews with EUCOM officials, the most commonly requested item is the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the fighter’s spare parts and technology upgrade-kits for it.

But countries can’t just buy anything.

The United States will never allow other countries to purchase its best technology, particularly radar units, which are reserved for U.S. planes.

The United States, according to EUCOM, will not sell any item that uses stealth technology. It also will not sell any equipment to a country in the Middle East that is technologically superior to equipment sold to Israel.

The United States also limits how the weapons can be used. For example, the equipment is provided only for internal security, legitimate self-defense or in collection arrangements that are allowed by the United Nations, according to the GAO report.

Sometimes the United States adds other caveats. U.S. man-portable air defense systems, such as Stinger missiles, may not be assemble for training or testing by foreign militaries unless U.S. personnel stationed overseas are notified, according to the GAO report.