By Tony
Capaccio | Bloomberg | Published: September 30, 2016
WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) — The Obama administration has
told Congress it won’t complete approval for Bahrain to buy as many as 19 F-16
fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp. and upgrades for older ones for almost
$4 billion until the Gulf ally demonstrates progress on human rights, according
to people familiar with the issue.
The declaration of concern, which doesn’t specify what steps
Bahrain would have to take, was included in a draft notification of the pending
sale that the administration sent to Congress on Wednesday, according to the
people who asked not to be identified discussing details of the message that
wasn’t released publicly.
The proposed sale to Bahrain is one of three involving fighter
jets by Lockheed and Boeing Co. to Persian Gulf allies, according to people
familiar with the decision. The initial, informal notifications to Congress say
the potential sales include as many as 72 Boeing F-15 jets to Qatar and as many
as 32 of the company’s F/A-18 E/F fighters to Kuwait, according to one of the
people.
While the long-delayed sales would deliver on President Barack
Obama’s promise to bolster the defense of Gulf allies worried by U.S.
participation in the nuclear deal with their archrival Iran, the strings
attached to the Bahrain sale in the draft, which could still change, reflect
concerns in the administration over that government’s crackdown on dissent and
opposition.
Without specifying how much Bahrain must do before the arms sale
can move forward, the Obama administration is calling on its rulers to reverse
its moves suppressing nonviolent opposition and dissolving the al-Wefaq
political society, the main opposition group of the country’s Shiite majority,
according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The administration is also concerned by continuing legal actions against Sheikh
Issa Qassim, al-Wefaq’s leader, and the detention of human-rights activist
Nabeel Rajab, the official said.
Secretary of State John Kerry has previously condemned the
decision to dissolve al-Wefaq, saying the government’s efforts to suppress
nonviolent opposition undermine Bahrain’s cohesion and security. The Arab
nation hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf.
A spokesman for Bahrain’s Embassy in Washington didn’t
immediately respond to a request for comment. The kingdom’s Foreign Ministry
has previously said “Bahrain is committed to the protection of human rights and
fundamental freedoms” and has instituted changes such as establishing
“independent watchdogs.”
The arms sales notifications sent to lawmakers this week begin
an informal review for as long as 40 days. That would be followed by an
official, public notification, after which the deals would go through unless
Congress moves to stop them within 30 days.
In addition to the 19 new F-16s valued at as much as $2.8
billion, the sale to Bahrain would include upgrades costing as much as $1
billion to Bahrain’s existing F-16 fleet, according to the inUnlike Bahrain,
the planned sales for Qatar and Kuwait are being proposed without conditions.
“Anytime there are strings attached, countries are less likely
to complete a deal,” said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Arlington,
Va.-based Lexington Institute who also consults for Lockheed, said in an email.
“If Bahrain goes elsewhere for its fighters, that would destroy
U.S. jobs and undermine U.S. influence in the region,” said Thompson, who
indicated he was aware in general terms of the administration’s conditions.
Concerns on issues such as human rights are normally taken into
account in deciding whether to sell arms to a country, not included as a
condition in notifying Congress, said Joel Johnson, an analyst who follows
foreign military sales for the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va.
The arms sales to the Gulf allies will help the U.S. contractors
keep assembly lines running for their older fighters as U.S. purchases shift to
Lockheed’s new F-35.
“This order is very important to Lockheed Martin,” Michael Rein,
a spokesman for the Bethesda, Md.-based contractor, said in an email. “We have
been aggressively pursuing additional F-16 orders and without this sale to
Bahrain we run the very real risk of the F-16 line shutting down. Bahrain is a
valued customer and key partner.”
©2016 Bloomberg News
Visit Bloomberg News at www.bloomberg.com
Original post: stripes
19 F-16 for $2.8 billion! That would be around $147 million per unit for
the F-16V
Related post:
Current inventory Royal
Bahraini Air Force
|
Aircraft
|
Origin
|
Type
|
Variant
|
In service
|
Notes
|
|
fighter
|
8[8]
|
||||
|
multirole
|
15[8]
|
1 Crashed during
Saudi led Intervention in Yemen
|
|||
|
attack
|
22[8]
|
||||
|
utility
|
18[8]
|
||||
|
utility
|
8[8]
|
||||
|
jet trainer
|
4[8]
|
||||
|
jet trainer
|
4[8]
|
||||
|
primary trainer
|
6[8]
|
||||
|
basic trainer
|
3[8]
|
||||
|
trainer
|
8[8]
|
||||
|
trainer
|
4[8]
|
||||
Source wikiwand
No comments:
Post a Comment