Kuwait has received green light from the US State Department to buy missiles and guided bombs for its Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft for an estimated cost of $397 million.
The price tag includes 60 AIM-120 C-7/8 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs), 250 MK-84 general purpose 2000LB bombs, 501 MK-83 general purpose 1000LB bombs, 350 joint direct attack munition (JDAM) tail kits for GBU-31V1 2000LB bombs, and 702 air foil groups for GBU-48 Enhanced Paveway II (EPW-II) 1000LB bombs.
Also included are AMRAAM containers, weapons support and software, inert munitions, trainers, and training equipment.
Kuwait is looking to buy the armament for the 28 Typhoon aircraft it is buying from the Eurofighter consortium. As of March this year, the emirate had taken delivery of a total of four airframes.
“The proposed sale will improve Kuwait’s ability to meet current and future regional threats. Kuwait intends to use these missiles and munitions with the Eurofighter Typhoon fleet it is acquiring. Kuwait has shown a commitment to modernizing its military and will have no difficulty absorbing these weapons into its armed forces,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in its notification of the sale to the Congress.
Should a definitive agreement be reached, the principal contractors on the delivery of the bombs and missiles would be Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.
