American officials announced on Monday that the U.S. will deploy a Patriot missile battery and F-16 fighter jet aircraft to Jordan as part of a planned military exercise, but said the systems may remain in Jordan to bolster its defensive capabilities.
The officials said the supply was made with the understanding that the weapons systems may stay in the country beyond the military exercise to bolster Jordan's security as violence from the Syrian civil war threatens to spread.
"In order to enhance the defensive posture and capacity of Jordan, some of these assets may remain beyond the exercise at the request of the government of Jordan," a spokesman at the U.S. Central Command, Lt. Col. T.G. Taylor, said.
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