US arm sales hit $50 billion record

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US foreign military sales have shot past $50 billion in a record-breaking year, boosted by massive fighter jet deals with Saudi Arabia and Japan, a senior US official has said.

Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, underlined that the United States also hopes to boost sales with India, which is mulling a $1.4 billion deal for 22 Apache helicopters.

"Today, I can confirm that this is already a record-breaking year for foreign military sales. We have already surpassed $50 billion in sales in fiscal year 2012," which ends September 30, Shapiro told journalists in a conference call.

The US has faced constant criticism of its policy of selling arms to governments across the world, with repressive regimes such as Saudi Arabia spending a large percentage of the state's budget on US weapons.

Last month the US announced it was to resume sales to Bahrain, despite an ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy protests in the country.

The $50 billion figure already represents a 70 percent increase over government-to-government sales by the United States in 2011, itself a record-setting year at just over $30 billion.

"Obviously the sale to Saudi Arabia was very significant," said Shapiro, referring to a $29.4 billion deal that included 84 Boeing-made F-15SA fighter jets and upgrades to its existing fleet of 70 F-15s.

Shapiro said it was too early to predict whether 2013 would see a further increase in foreign military sales but said the United States would seek to continue expanding into key markets, including India.

"We've made tremendous progress in the relationship (with India) over the last decade. We went from nearly zero sales to about $8 billion in sales," he said.

Long-standing grievances between India and Pakistan have led both sides to build up huge armies, as well as nuclear arsenals, with the US government selling weapons to both sides.

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