WASHINGTON, June 15: Boosted by massive fighter jet deals with Saudi Arabia and Japan, US foreign military sales have shot past $50 billion in a record-breaking year, a senior US official said on Thursday.

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 Sept 30, Shapiro told journalists in a conference call.

This figure already represents a 70 per cent increase over government-to-government sales by the United States in 2011, itself a record-setting year at just over $30 billion.—AFP