Venezuela Signs $2B Arms Contract with Spanish Firms

CN-235MPA Persuader

In 2005, DID covered a report on Latin American arms procurement that highlighted Venezuela as the major arms buyer in the region. In November 2005, Defense-Aerospace.com translated a document (URL now broken) noting that Spain’s Minister of Defence Jose Bono had attended a contract-signing ceremony wherein EADS-CASA will deliver 12 aircraft and Navantia would deliver 8 ships; the total value of both contracts was EUR 1.7 billion ($2 billion), of which the aircraft represented only about EUR 450-500 million.

Other sources noted that Spain would deliver 10 C-295 light-medium transport aircraft and 2 CASA EADS CN-235MPA Persuader maritime patrol aircraft. Though the contract reports did not specify exact ship classes, the deal also reportedly included 4 corvettes and 4 patrol vessels from Spanish ship-builder Navantia.

Technology transfer export laws – and their accompanying restrictions – would play a role in this sale. Some parts of the deal would make it, and others wouldn’t. In the aftermath, work continues:

• Suddenly You Find You’re Out There, Walking in a Storm…
  
• Yesterday’s Gone: Progress and Developments
  
• Appendix A: The Nature of the Vessels
  

RAWS, Too: US Army Orders Carl Gustav M3

RAWS firing: Basra, Iraq

In November 2011, the US Army combined with US Special Operations Command to place an $31.5 million order with Saab North America for their Carl-Gustaf M3 man-portable recoilless rifle, which fires 84mm rockets. It’s a good order for Saab, because it breaks new ground with the US Army.

If the ubiquitous Russian RPG family is removed from the picture, Sweden’s Saab Bofors Dynamics has earned a strong niche, with 2 of the most popular shoulder-fired rocket systems in the world. Its 84mm offerings include the Carl Gustaf/Gustav, whose core design dates back to 1946 and whose most recent M3 version dates to 1991. The less-expensive AT-4/M136 is also 84mm, but swaps the rifled metal/carbon fiber launch tube for cheaper reinforced fiberglass, among other changes. Both systems offer a variety of rocket types, but the Carl Gustaf M3’s Area Defence Munition (ADM) flechette rounds are a uniquely useful capability in infantry fights. The US military has used both weapons for some time, but until now, the Carl Gustav M3 Ranger Antitank Weapons System had been fielded exclusively by US Special Operations units, while the M136 Lightweight Multipurpose Weapon was fielded to both US SOCOM and regular US Army units.