Oman Requests Purchase of U.S. Missiles, Bombs

Dec. 17, 2012 By AARON MEHTA  - Defense News

Oman intends to purchase a number of weapons upgrades for its F-16 fleet, continuing a recent trend of bolstering the Royal Air Force of Oman as tensions in the Middle East remain high.

Oman filed a request for the arms with the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Dec. 14. If approved, the deal will be worth $117 million. Contractors include Raytheon, General Dynamics, Textron and McAlester Ammunition.

Among the intended purchases are: 27 advanced, medium-range air-to-air missiles, 162 GBU-12 Paveway 500-pound laser-guided bombs, and 150 BLU-111B/B 500-pound conical fin general purpose bombs.

Oman has spent heavily this year to upgrade its F-16s. In October, the country finalized an agreement to upgrade a dozen of the fighter jets. This followed a June deal with Lockheed to equip the jets with its Sniper targeting pods and a March deal with Northrop Grumman to upgrade the jets’ radars.

U.S. aerospace companies have earned almost $1 billion from Oman in the past 18 months.