The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency -- the outfit responsible for coordinating military sales contracts between the U.S. and its allies, and getting Congress' OK on such sales before they can proceed -- notified Congress of no fewer than five such upcoming "foreign military sales" contracts Wednesday. The biggest of the sales involving actual arms was a proposed sale [link opens in PDF] to Kuwait of a single Boeing (BA -0.76%) C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft.
The aircraft, equipped with F117-PW-100 engines from United Technologies (RTX -0.18%) subsidiary Pratt & Whitney, is expected to cost approximately $371 million all-in. DSCA told Congress that in addition to securing the revenues for Boeing and UTC, selling this plane to Kuwait is a good idea because "Kuwait continues to be a key ally and strong supporter of U.S. foreign policy and national security goals in the Persian Gulf region. The proposed sale will enhance the United States foreign policy and national security objectives by increasing interoperability among the Kuwait Air Force (KAF), the United States Air Force, Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and other coalition forces."
Additionally, noted DSCA, adding a second C-17 to Kuwait's Air Force "will allow the KAF to better participate in humanitarian support operations."
