Defense will purchase a large number of American missiles, both for the F-35 fighter planes and for our air defenses. The amount involved could amount to more than 3 billion euros, ‘De Tijd’ and ‘L’Echo’ wrote on Saturday.
Source: Belga, De Tijd, L’Echo
‘De Tijd’ was able to view documents from the American Defense Security Cooperation Agency, an agency that facilitates military purchases in the United States. It shows that Belgium has requested permission for a purchase of up to 3.69 billion dollars (3.13 billion euros).
The Belgian army wants to equip the 45 F-35 with AIM-120 Amraam missiles from the American defense company Raytheon, best known for the Patriot missiles. Amraams was already mentioned in the ammunition plan that Minister of Defense Theo Francken (N-VA) proposed last year. However, the size of the planned purchase was still unclear.
The large order should help with lobbying efforts to bring a Raytheon production line to Belgium. For this purpose, the FN Browning site in Zutendaal is being examined. There are now concrete discussions between Raytheon and the Walloon FN, although the Netherlands is also interested in the contract.
