The U.S. State Department has approved a potential $5 billion Foreign Military Sale to Saudi Arabia of more than 10,000 Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range (JDAM-ER) tailkits, and over 5,000 BLU-111 500-pound general purpose bombs, 5,000 BLU-117 2,000-pound general purpose bombs, fuzes, target detectors and other related technical assistance and equipment. Primary contractor for the sale will be Boeing.
DSCA notified Congress of this possible sale on Friday. The notice of a possible $5 billion+ sale of over 10,000 JDAM-ERs to Saudi Arabia was released at the same time as the notification of a possible $749 million sale of Bell helicopters to Iraq. Thus in one day, the US notified Congress of possible Foreign Military Sales of roughly $6.75 billion to be used to arm and enable two key Middle Eastern states to continue to fight against Iran.
The precision-guided munitions could be used by the Royal Saudi Air Force in the event of a conflict with Iran, which has launched several missile and drone attacks on Saudi targets over the past six months. Although the majority of the attacks have been intercepted by the kingdom’s air defense systems, they have hit several civilian and energy targets.
The JDAM-ER system extends the range of standard GPS-guided joint direct attack munitions, allowing the Royal Saudi Air Force to now strike at stand-off ranges. The sale of these additional guided munitions will enhance the security of a critical partner and contribute to U.S. national security goals, the State Department said.
That effort to go after Iran’s financial infrastructure is taking place under the codename of Operation Economic Outcast, while Gulf states are meanwhile dealing with the kinetic threat of Iranian attacks. The Trump administration’s position regarding cooperation with Gulf states willing to confront Iran has been clear for some time: they will be supplied with relevant defense systems.
The deal is pending Congressional review. Once that review is complete, the contract will be finalized for both the U.S. Government and the Saudi government. There is no known opposition to this sale at this time.
