The State Department approved a possible $1.9 billion Foreign Military Sales (FMS) request to Iraq for various F-16 weapons, munitions, equipment, and logistics support

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of the potential sale on Jan. 15.

A U.S. Air Force F-16. Photo: Air Force.
A U.S. Air Force F-16. Photo: Air Force.

Major defense equipment (MDE) in the requested FMS would include 20 units of the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS); 24 AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles; 150 AGM-65D/G/H/K Maverick missiles; 14,120 500-pound General Purpose (GP) bomb body/warhead units for use either as unguided or guided bombs. Depending on asset availability, this will comprise a mix of MK-82 500-pound warheads and/or BLU-111 500-pound warheads from stock and/or new contract procurement and 2,400 2,000-pound GP bomb body/warheads for use either as unguided or guided bombs. Depending on asset availability, the 2,000-pound warheads will comprise a mix of MK-84 2,000-pound warheads and/or BLU-117 2,000-pound warheads from stock and/or new contract procurement.

Other MDE in the sale would include 8,000 Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) Paveway II tail kits to be combined with 500-pound warheads for MK-82 and/or BLU-111 to build GBU-12 guided bombs; 250 LGB Paveway II tail kits to be combined with 2,000-pound warheads for MK-82 and/or BLU-117 to build GBU-10 guided bombs; 150 LGB Paveway III tail kits to be combined with 2,000-pound warheads for MK-82 and/or BLU-117 to build GBU-24 guided bombs; and 8,500 FMU-152 fuzes used with the LGB tail kits and warheads to build GBU All Up Rounds (AUR’s).

Also included in the MDE category are four WGU-43CD2/B Guidance Control Units; one M61 Vulcan Rotary 20mm cannon; six MK-82 inert bombs; and four MK-84 inert bombs.

The MDE value alone is $550 million.

The sale would use multiple vendors including Lockheed Martin [LMT], Raytheon [RTN], the Marvin Group, United Technologies [UTX], Michael Baker Corp. [MKR], and the Royal Jordanian Air Academy.

The agency said Iraq previously bought 35 F-16 aircraft and would use this new equipment to maintain the operational capabilities of the aircraft, DSCA said.

Implementation of the sale would require about 400 U.S. government and contractor personnel to reside in Iraq through 2020 to establish maintenance support, on-the-job maintenance training, and maintenance advice.