U.S. Plans Major Arms Sales to Israel and Saudi Arabia

Edited by Ivan Martínez
2015-05-22 14:27:29

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Washington, May 22 (RHC)-- The U.S. Defense Department has announced plans for lucrative sale of offensive weaponry to the regimes in Israel and Saudi Arabia, which have been deeply involved in deadly military offensives and destabilizing measures in the troubled Middle East.

In a USD 1.9-billion arms deal with the Tel Aviv regime, the Pentagon will supply nearly 3,000 Hellfire precision missiles, 250 AIM-120C advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, 4,100 GBU-39 small diameter bombs and 50 BLU-113 bunker buster bombs to Israel. The deal also includes “14,500 tail kits for Joint Direct Attack Munitions for 220kg and 900kg bombs and a variety of Paveway laser-guided bomb kits.

The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which coordinates U.S. military’s arms sales to foreign nations, also claimed that “the proposed sale of this equipment will provide Israel the ability to support its self-defense needs.”

The DSCA also said the new arms deal is intended to “replenish” the Israeli regime’s arsenal without supplying its military forces with any kind of new weapons.

In November 2014, it was reported that Pentagon planned to supply Israel with 3,000 smart bombs, similar to those used in the massive Israeli military aggression against the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip last summer, when its forces dropped an estimated 100 tons of munitions on the densely populated enclave.

According to U.S. military’s DSCA, the prospective arms deal with Saudi Arabia, also worth around USD 1.9, will include the sale of 10 Seahawk MH-60R multi-mission helicopters along with relevant radars and navigation systems as well as 38 Hellfire missiles and 380 Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System rockets.

This is while the Saudi regime, the largest buyer of U.S. arms, has spent USD 90 billion on purchase of U.S. weaponry between 2010 and 2014, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report released late last month.



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