US OKs missile guidance kits, Patriot repairs, Javelins for Middle East partners

WASHINGTON — The US State Department has announced that it has approved a trio of potential foreign military sales to allies in the Middle East, including $1 billion-worth of missile guidance kits for the United Arab Emirates and hundreds of millions in repairs to Patriot systems in Kuwait.

In one of three separate releases on Friday, the State Department said the possible $1 billion deal with the UAE would provide the Gulf nation with up to 10,000 Advanced Precision Kill System-II Guidance Sections — air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles — as well as several other “non-major defense equipment items” related to missiles. The UAE previously requested up to 1,500 APKWS systems in May.

The announcement does not mention Iran, but comes as the US and its allies are racing to deploy relatively low-cost ways to take out drones and other incoming threats since the outbreak of hostilities in the region in February. The notification says the sale would help the Emirates maintain a “strong and ready self-defense capability and improv[e] interoperability with US forces.”

Meanwhile, a separate notice from the State Department the same day said that the Kuwaiti government has “requested to buy repair and return services for Patriot missiles” and associated equipment and services for $400 million.

Kuwait, which has used the Patriot system since the 1990s [PDF], has also been targeted by Iran in recent months, including a deadly strike that took the lives of six American soldiers in early March.

That notice also does not mention Iran but says the repairs will “improve Kuwait’s capability to meet current and future threats and provide greater security for its critical oil and natural gas infrastructure.”

Elsewhere, the State Department greenlit a request from Egypt for $832 million for up to 2,020 Javelin missiles, 200 launch units and other associated equipment. That proposed sale “will support U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political stability and economic growth in the Middle East,” the State Department said.

Like all foreign military sales, for each recent announcement the dollar figures and unit numbers can change as negotiations progress, and US lawmakers can always step in to attempt to block or alter the sales.