Saudi Arabia is not the only country requesting arms, upgrades, or services from the USA lately. Last Thursday and Friday, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency issued a flurry of notifications that included purchases by Singapore in Asia; by Bahrain, Jordan, and UAE/Dubai in the Middle East (bringing the region’s total arms purchases to $35 billion since December 2005); and by Poland, Spain and The Netherlands in Europe. These purchases total up to $1.86 billion, and include helicopters, UAV/UAS systems, engines, F-16 pilot training at bases in the USA for two countries, and upgrades to armored personnel carriers.
Note that these notifications mean that contracts will be concluded for the requests, unless the US Congress successfully intervenes to block specific sales within a 30-day period.
In “Another 149 Dingo Vehicles for the Bundeswehr,” DID noted in passing that the sale of KMW’s Dingo “All-Protected Vehicles” to Israel had been held up by the German government. Reader Richard North recently wrote in with a link to a July 12 story in the Israeli newspaper Arutz Sheva, noting that the sale of 100 Dingo vehicles had finally been approved for about $100 million. A second, billion-dollar deal between Germany and Israel for the sale of two Thyssen-HDW Dolphin-class submarines was said to still be is under review, with a decision expected soon. See DID’s coverage of the Dolphin submarine deal for more background.
