The United States navy’s guided missile destroyer the USS Arleigh Burke arrived in Cyprus on Monday, the American embassy in Nicosia announced.

The ship is the lead ship of the Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer, and is named after Admiral Arleigh Burke, who served during the second world war and the Korean war, and then worked as the US’ chief of naval operations under presidents Dwight D Eisenhower and John F Kennedy.

The embassy described the ship’s stop in Cyprus as a “great port visit” and added that the US is “grateful for Cyprus’ continued hospitality and commitment to regional security cooperation”.

The ship’s arrival is one of a growing number of US navy ships docking in Cyprus, with the USS Mahan’s arrival last week the most recent prior to the Arleigh Burke.

In addition to deepening naval ties, Cyprus was earlier this year authorised to buy military hardware directly from the United States government after joining three programmes run by the country’s department of defence.

The country was incorporated into the US defence security cooperation agency’s foreign military sales (FMS) programme, its excess defence articles (EDA) programme, and will be allocated resources under the US’ ‘Title 10’ security assistance provisions.

It is the inclusion into the FMS programme which will allow the government to purchase military hardware directly from the US government, with the country previously having only been able to buy US military hardware from private companies.

Being able to circumvent private companies will allow the government to buy weapons and other hardware at cheaper prices than before, given that the US government typically acquires its apparatus in bulk, and is thus able to sell it on for cheaper prices than what private companies would offer to a military of the national guard’s size.