One million dollars-worth of weapons and munitions were delivered to the Armed Forces of the Philippines by the Joint United States Military Assistance Group-Philippines on 4 July 2021. The delivery was made at the former US military facility Clark Air Base in Pampanga, in northern Philippines.

The delivery included 14 M2A1.50 caliber heavy machine guns, seven M240B machine guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

According to the US Embassy in Manila, the Philippines is the largest recipient of US military assistance in the Indo-Pacific region. In 2019, US military aid to the Philippines reached US$33.1 billion, up by 91% since 2000.

The delivery was made as the US and Duterte governments are working to reach a “satisfactory arrangement” to continue the US-RP Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).  The pact provides a mechanism for the US to station its military forces in Philippine territory. The current agreement took effect in 1999 and is due to expire this year.

“The VFA is very important, we support it and we’re hopeful that we can arrive at a satisfactory arrangement to continue that,” US Chargé d’Affaires John Law told reporters.

While the AFP has received substantial military aid from the United States,  they have also had accidents with the received aid. On 25 June 2021, a S-70i Black Hawk assault helicopter crashed during a training exercise, killing all six air force personnel on board. At that time, the AFP had just finalized a deal to acquire an additional 16 Black Hawks for US$241 million, under a military program to modernize its military equipment.

On 4 July, another Philippine Air Force troop plane crashed and broke up in flames killing at least 45. It was reportedly the country's worst military air disaster in 30 years.