The US State Department has approved a massive arms sale to Israel for a variety of munitions including the joint direct attack munition, laser-guided paveway, small diameter bomb, hellfire missile and advanced medium-range air-to-air missile in a potential deal worth an estimated $1.9 billion to domestic arms suppliers.
The sale is foreshadowed in a notice to Congress published today by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
“The government of Israel has requested a possible sale of 14,500 joint direct attack munition tail kits consisting of 10,000 for the Mk-84, 500 for Mk-83, and 4,000 for Mk-82,” the notice says. “[Also] 3,500 Mk-82 bombs, 4,500 Mk-83 bombs, 50 BLU-113 bombs, 4,100 small diameter bombs, 1,500 Mk-83 paveway kits, 700 BLU-109 paveway kits, 3,000 hellfire missiles, 250 AIM-120C AMRAAMs, and 500 detector laser illuminated target kits for JDAMs.
“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defence capability,” the notice adds.
The sale, if finalized, would be a windfall for US arms supplier, principally Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Ellwood Group and Raytheon.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
