On Tuesday, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency revealed that it has asked Congress to approve a sale of munitions and related military hardware and services to the United Arab Emirates -- a sale that could be worth $4 billion to primary contractors Boeing (BA 0.42%) and Raytheon (RTN) if this defense contract is approved.
Specifically, DSCA says that the UAE wishes to buy:
- 5000 GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs (SDB) manufactured by Boeing
- eight of the company's SDB Guided Test Vehicles for aircraft integration
- 16 SDB Captive Flight and Load Build trainers
Also on the UAE's shopping list:
- 200 of Raytheon's AGM-154C Joint Stand Off Weapons (JSOW)
- 10 JSOW CATMs for training purposes
- 300 Boeing AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missiles-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER)
- 40 of the company's CATM-84H Captive Air Training Missiles
- 20 ATM-84H SLAM-ER Telemetry Missiles
- four Dummy Air Training Missiles
- 30 Raytheon-built AWW-13 Data Link pods
- additional unarmed training missiles, training systems for ground crews, containers, software, tools, equipment, and support services
The UAE intends to use the weapons to arm its fleet of F-16 fighter jets, with the goal of improving "the UAE's military readiness and capabilities to meet current and future regional threats, reduce the dependence on U.S. forces in the region, and enhance any coalition operations the U.S. may undertake."
DSCA assured Congress that, if approved, this defense contract will not "alter the basic military balance in the region," nor will it adversely "impact on U.S. defense readiness."
