The U.S. is weighing whether to suspend deliveries to Egypt of weapons systems including Apache attack helicopters due this month, as a national survey found that half of Americans favor cutting off military aid in response to the violence wracking the nation.

 

The survey released yesterday by the Pew Research Center in Washington showed 51 percent of respondents said it’s better to cut off military assistance to pressure the Egyptian government, while 26 percent backed continuing aid to maintain U.S. influence and 23 percent didn’t have an opinion.

The Obama administration put deliveries of five major procurement programs, including F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) and M1A1 battle tanks from General Dynamics Corp. (GD), “under review,” according to a July 16 State Department document sent to Congress and obtained by Bloomberg News. It was dated July 16, two weeks after Egypt’s military ousted the elected Islamist government of Mohamed Mursi.