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Rabat – Morocco will be receiving 1,200 TOW 2a anti-tank missiles from the United States, according to a new contract approved by Washington on Thursday.
The missiles, valued at $108 million, are manufactured by Raytheon and are a part of a $7 billion dollar effort by the U.S. to supply arms and aircraft to four of its Arab allies.
Saudi Arabia – currently tangled in an anti-Iran proxy war in Yemen – is due to receive 48 cargo helicopters of the Chinook CH-47 F variety, with back-up engines and machine guns, from Boeing and Honeywell Aerospace. As many as 60 American private and public sector employees will work in the KSA to maintain the helicopters, according to Medias24.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States have soured in recent months, after the U.S. Congress voted to override a bill vetoed by President Barack Obama that would allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue the KSA for any role they might have had in the plot.
Saudi diplomats had threatened to sell off billions in U.S. assets if the bill became law, but the override – the first since Obama took office in January 2009 – could not be stopped.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will pay $3.5 billion to buy 27 Apache IH-64A attack helicopters and supporting equipment from Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Qatar will receive eight C-17 military cargo planes and back-up engines via two contracts worth $781 million.
As the AFP noted, Congress could still reject the contracts, even though they have been approved by the Department of State.
