Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Bloomberg.com
September 30, 2008
By Gopal Ratnam and Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg News
U.S. weapons exports rose about 45 percent to $33.7 billion in the just-ended fiscal year, the highest total since 1993, as the Defense Department increased sales in the Middle East to improve security in the region.
Exports jumped from $23.3 billion in 2007 and $21 billion in 2006, Defense Security Cooperation Agency spokesman Charles Taylor said in an interview today, the end of the 2008 budget year. The Pentagon agency is responsible for foreign sales.
The Pentagon has pushed to improve Iraq's military capability and to equip Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates -- members of the Gulf Cooperation Council -- with advanced weapons. The idea is to lift their military capabilities in case of aggression from Iran.
``The last big surge was after the first Gulf War'' against Iraq in 1991, when the U.S. helped countries in the region upgrade their military, William Hartung, an arms analyst for the Washington-based New America Foundation, said in an interview.
``It's possible that a quarter to one-third of this year's sales could be arming up Iraq, and with the oil price rise, Gulf states can afford to make purchases,'' said Hartung, who is based in New York.
Taylor declined to specify the weapons, buyers and manufacturers with the biggest export increases in 2008. Foreign sales averaged about $10 billion to $13 billion annually between 2000 and 2005, he said.
Of the five largest U.S. defense contractors, only Lockheed Martin Corp., the biggest, has had an increase in its stock price this year while the Standard & Poor's 500 Aerospace & Defense Index declined 23 percent. Raytheon Co. and General Dynamics Corp. had smaller declines than the index, while Northrop Grumman Corp. matched the results. Boeing Co., which is also the world's second-largest commercial airline maker, trailed the index.
Lockheed's F-16 fighter is one of the most exported weapons, used by 23 countries with more than 4,300 planes produced, according to the airplane maker.
Iraq already has received approval for $10.9 billion of U.S. weapons and is also seeking as many as 36 F-16 fighters, Bruce Lemkin, the Air Force undersecretary for international Affairs, said in an interview.
``There's no certainty here,'' Lemkin said of Iraq's desire to buy the fighters. ``These are just the very nascent steps in the process.''
If Iraq does buy the planes, the F-16s may become the centerpiece of an Air Force relationship with Iraq that includes C-130J transports, light-attack aircraft and a system for training and maintenance, Lemkin said.
September 30, 2008
By Gopal Ratnam and Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg News
U.S. weapons exports rose about 45 percent to $33.7 billion in the just-ended fiscal year, the highest total since 1993, as the Defense Department increased sales in the Middle East to improve security in the region.
Exports jumped from $23.3 billion in 2007 and $21 billion in 2006, Defense Security Cooperation Agency spokesman Charles Taylor said in an interview today, the end of the 2008 budget year. The Pentagon agency is responsible for foreign sales.
The Pentagon has pushed to improve Iraq's military capability and to equip Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates -- members of the Gulf Cooperation Council -- with advanced weapons. The idea is to lift their military capabilities in case of aggression from Iran.
``The last big surge was after the first Gulf War'' against Iraq in 1991, when the U.S. helped countries in the region upgrade their military, William Hartung, an arms analyst for the Washington-based New America Foundation, said in an interview.
``It's possible that a quarter to one-third of this year's sales could be arming up Iraq, and with the oil price rise, Gulf states can afford to make purchases,'' said Hartung, who is based in New York.
Taylor declined to specify the weapons, buyers and manufacturers with the biggest export increases in 2008. Foreign sales averaged about $10 billion to $13 billion annually between 2000 and 2005, he said.
Of the five largest U.S. defense contractors, only Lockheed Martin Corp., the biggest, has had an increase in its stock price this year while the Standard & Poor's 500 Aerospace & Defense Index declined 23 percent. Raytheon Co. and General Dynamics Corp. had smaller declines than the index, while Northrop Grumman Corp. matched the results. Boeing Co., which is also the world's second-largest commercial airline maker, trailed the index.
Lockheed's F-16 fighter is one of the most exported weapons, used by 23 countries with more than 4,300 planes produced, according to the airplane maker.
Iraq already has received approval for $10.9 billion of U.S. weapons and is also seeking as many as 36 F-16 fighters, Bruce Lemkin, the Air Force undersecretary for international Affairs, said in an interview.
``There's no certainty here,'' Lemkin said of Iraq's desire to buy the fighters. ``These are just the very nascent steps in the process.''
If Iraq does buy the planes, the F-16s may become the centerpiece of an Air Force relationship with Iraq that includes C-130J transports, light-attack aircraft and a system for training and maintenance, Lemkin said.