After announcing plans in August to ink a massive $1.2 billion arms sale to the government of Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress last week of two additional potential sales that approach $6.9 billion in combined value.
Specifically, the agency told lawmakers that the Saudis want to buy $6.8 billion worth of "munitions and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support," and to spend an additional $90 million on "support services" to be provided to its Defense Ministry over the next three years.
The smaller contract would maintain funding for the U.S. military training mission in Riyadh, "helping to improve the security of a friendly country that has been and continues to be an important force for political stability in the Middle East," according an agency statement released on Tuesday. The larger contract would involve supplying the Saudi government with:
- 650 AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missiles-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) from Boeing (NYSE: BA).
- 973 of Raytheon's (NYSE: RTN) AGM-154C Joint Stand Off Weapons (JSOW).
- 400 Boeing AGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles.
- 1000 Boeing GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs.
- 40 Boeing CATM-84H Captive Air Training Missiles.
- 20 Boeing ATM-84H SLAM-ER Telemetry Missiles.
- 4 Dummy Air Training Missiles.
- 60 Raytheon AWW-13 Data Link pods.
- Additional unarmed training missiles, training systems for ground crews, containers, software, tools, equipment, and support services.
Saudi Arabia intends to use the weapons to arm its fleet of 154 new and refurbished F-15SA fighter jets that Boeing is supplying to the Royal Saudi Air Force under a December 2011 letter of offer and acceptance.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency assured Congress that if approved, neither sale will "alter the basic military balance in the region," nor will they adversely "impact on U.S. defense readiness."
