US approves sale of 1,000-plus TOW missiles to Saudi Arabia
The Pentagon says the United States has approved potential sale of more than a 1,000 tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided (TOW) missiles to Saudi Arabia in a deal worth $440 million.
The Pentagon made the announcement in a statement on Thursday, saying Riyadh has requested to buy 507 TOW 2A and another 507 TOW 2B, RF missiles.
The TOW 2A and TOW 2B are guided long-range precision, heavy anti-tank and assault projectiles.
According to the statement, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment and services into its armed forces.”
Last September, the Pentagon authorized an arms deal with the kingdom worth $500 million that included TOW missile launchers.
Earlier in October, the US also rubberstamped sale of 220 AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder Tactical Missiles, 2,503 AGM-114R3 Hellfire II missiles, and thousands of rounds of other ammunition to the kingdom.
The kingdom has been depending heavily on American military support that was markedly invigorated after March 2015, when Riyadh launched a war on neighboring Yemen.
An estimated 150,000 people were killed as a result of the military onslaught.
The campaign also claimed the lives of more than 227,000 others, who lost their lives as a result of widespread destruction of the Arab Peninsula country’s healthcare infrastructure during Saudi military attacks and a simultaneous Riyadh-imposed siege on the country that spawned a famine.
Reports concerning ongoing robust military cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the US continue to trickle in as the two sides are reportedly working on a deal that features “multiple commitments” on the part of Washington to Riyadh.
The commitments include security guarantees, assistance aimed at the kingdom’s nuclear program, and economic investment in areas such as technology.
Reporting on negotiations concerning the deal, The New York Times said last September that the deal “is at the center of President Biden’s high-stakes diplomacy to get the kingdom to normalize relations with Israel.”
Observers remind that such normalization will ensure bolstered regional support for Tel Aviv, Washington’s most cherished ally.
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