US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the St. Charles Convention Center on November 29 in St. Charles, Missouri. （Photo: VCG）

The US said it has sold arms worth $41.93 billion for  the 2017 Fiscal Year. 

This includes $6.04 billion funded by the US State Department’s Foreign Military Financing, $3.87 billion funded by the US Defense Department, and $32.02 billion funded by partner nations through the US Foreign Military Sales system.

“The positive sales trend isn’t surprising as the US is the global provider of choice for security cooperation,” said Lt. Gen. Charles W. Hooper, who became Defense Security Cooperation Agency Director in August.

Global military spending in 2016 is estimated to be $1.69 trillion, and the growth areas are the Asia-Pacific region, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

“We deliver not only the most effective defense systems to our partners, but we also ensure a ‘Total Package’ approach that includes the provision of training, maintenance, and sustainment, to support full spectrum capability for our partners,”  Hooper added.

The US Foreign Military Sales system is a security assistance program authorized by the Arms Export Control Act under the direction of the Secretary of State. The US uses FMS to further US foreign policy and national security objectives by the sales of defense articles, defense services, and military training to foreign countries and international organizations. FMS is one of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s better-known security cooperation programs and has served as a key tool of US diplomacy and defense for the past 70 years.