U.S. Marines assigned to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 load a 2.75-inch rocket configured with Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II, a hydra 70 rocket motor and M282 High Explosive Incendiary Multipurpose Penetrator Warhead onto an AH-1Z Viper at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., March 29. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ashley McLaughlin/Released)
BEIRUT — The US State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) of precision guided weapons to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a deal that would be worth an estimated $1.96 billion.
The announcement made Wednesday by the Department of State specified that Kingdom requested 20,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS-II) — half of them with air-to-air guidance sections and the other half air-to ground.
Additionally, Saudi Arabia could receive “LAU-131 A/A launchers; Mk-152 high explosive warheads; MK66 rocket motors; proximity fuzes; WTU-1/B practice warheads; inert MK66 rocket motors; test support equipment; launch and employment equipment,” as well as training and spare parts.
The State Department said the proposed sale will “augment Saudi Arabia’s operational aircraft and enhance its air-to-air, and air-to-ground self-defense capability.”
