Oman intends
to purchase a number of weapons upgrades for its F-16 fleet, continuing a recent
trend of bolstering the Royal Air Force of Oman.
Oman filed a
request for the arms with the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Dec.
14. If approved, the deal will be worth $117 million. Contractors include
Raytheon, General Dynamics, Textron and McAlester
Ammunition.
Among the
intended purchases are: 27 advanced, medium-range air-to-air missiles, 162
GBU-12 Paveway 500-pound laser-guided bombs, and 150 BLU-111B/B 500-pound
conical fin general purpose bombs.
Oman has spent
heavily this year to upgrade its F-16s. In October, the country finalized an
agreement to upgrade a dozen of the fighter jets. This followed a June deal with
Lockheed to equip the jets with its Sniper targeting pods and a March deal with
Northrop Grumman to upgrade the jets’ radars.
U.S. aerospace
companies have earned almost $1 billion from Oman in the past 18 months. Defense
News
Weapons sales by
the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high, according to a new
comprehensive congressional report. The United
States sold $66.3 billion of weapons overseas in 2011, accounting for nearly 78
percent of all global arms sales, which rose to $85.3 billion in 2011, the
highest level seen since 2004. Key U.S. weapons
sales in 2011 included: - $33.4 billion
to Saudi Arabia for 84 Boeing Co F-15 fighters, dozens of helicopters built by
Boeing and Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies
Corp, - $3.49 billion
for Lockheed Martin Corp's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, an advanced
missile shield, to the United Arab Emirates, and $940 million for 16 Chinook
helicopters built by Boeing, - $1.4 billion
for 18 F-16 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin, - A $4.1 billion
agreement with India for 10 C-17 transport planes built by
Boeing, - And a $2
billion order by Taiwan for Patriot antimissile batteries. Reuters
ARA/HJ
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