U.S. agrees to sell TOW missiles, services to Saudi Arabia for 1.1 bln USD

WASHINGTON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department on Thursday agreed to sell TOW missiles as well as spare parts for armed vehicles and maintenance service to Saudi Arabia in three separate arms sales worth a total of nearly 1.1 billion U.S. dollars.

The 6,600 TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wireless-guided) 2B missiles (BGM-71F-Series) and an additional 96 for training fly-to-buy lot validation missiles the kingdom had requested would cost 670 million dollars, the State Department said in a statement.

In a separate sales announcement, the State Department said it has approved selling a 300-million-dollar service package to the Royal Saudi Land Forces Ordnance Corps.

The money will fund blanket order requisitions for common spares/repair parts to support Saudi Arabia's fleet of M1A2 Abrams tanks, M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs), Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs), M198 Towed Howitzers, additional support, and other related elements of logistics and program support.

In another announcement, the State Department said it agrees to provide maintenance support service for the Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command's fleet of AH-64D/E, UH-60L, Schweizer 333 and Bell 406CS helicopters for an estimated cost of 106.8 million dollars.

The slate of arms sales comes on the heels of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's visit to the White House on Tuesday, during which U.S. President Donald Trump called the kingdom as a big buyer of U.S. equipment and touted arms sales to the country as a strong job generator for the United States. Enditem