US will pay countries for the abandonment of Russian and Chinese weapons

The US State Department plans to offer countries financing for the purchase of American-made weapons if they give up weapons produced in Russia, writes Defense One.

Фото: Depositphotos

A one-year initiative called the European Recapitalization Incentive Program is already helping six Eastern European countries buy new helicopters or armored vehicles. Now, State Department officials are seeking to force allies and partners to abandon not only Russian weapons, but also Chinese ones.

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To get funding, countries must get rid of Russian weapons, promise not to buy new ones and allocate part of their own funding to buy American ones.

“The program is designed to encourage partners, as well as our allies, to invest their own resources in modernizing their military capabilities and eliminating Russian obsolete equipment,” a State Department spokesman said.

The idea is to encourage a foreign country to purchase a significant amount of necessary weapons.

“We won’t just buy them one helicopter or two infantry fighting vehicles,” the official said.

US cash flows through the account of military funding abroad.

“We do not use US taxpayer money to spend it entirely on partners. We are collaborating with partners to exploit comprehensive opportunities,” the official said.

In countries already approved for funding, there are military men who use helicopters and infantry fighting vehicles of Soviet times. This is indicated by the data of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

In some cases, if a country buys spare parts for these obsolete vehicles and helicopters, then they may face US sanctions.

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Since the program began about a year ago, the State Department allocated 190 million dollars to six projects in six countries. Countries are at different stages of buying new equipment.

The program includes the following countries:

• Albania, $ 30 million for helicopters
• Bosnia, $ 30,6 million for helicopters
• Croatia, $ 25 million for infantry fighting vehicles
• Greece, $ 25 million for infantry fighting vehicles
• North Macedonia, $ 30 million for infantry fighting vehicles
• Slovakia, $ 50 million for helicopters.

The government of Northern Macedonia, speaking of this program, noted that efforts are being made to “strengthen the capacity” of its army by improving its equipment and bringing it in line with NATO standards.

The United States plans to launch a second round of the program with potential funding for new projects from 50 to 100 million dollars.

Although the program is working at the testing stage, the State Department’s budget proposal for the 2020 year provides for an expansion of these efforts. US officials are also considering how to expand the initiative beyond Eastern Europe to "compete with Russia and China and help our partners go or stay away from Russian or Chinese weapons."

Although the state has not yet determined which countries outside Europe to join the program, it is studying the countries of Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa.

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