U.S. AGREES TO DELIVER SOPHISTICATED BOMBS TO EGYPT, OMAN, UAE
[IMRA: The US honors it promises not to sell anything to the Arabs that will
disturb the balance of power by including a declaration with each arms sale
that it does not disturb the balance. In truth there is no formal mechanism
to actually examine the impact of a sale on the arms balance. It would
certainly be interesting for the appropriate congressional committees to
study this gaping hole in American policy implementation.]

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has agreed to deliver advance air
bombs to Arab allies.

The Defense Department has approved the delivery of laser-guided air bombs
to Egypt, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

The contracts were awarded by the U.S. Air Force under the Foreign Military
Sales program.

Raytheon has been awarded five separate competitive contracts totaling $7.9
million for the Paveway II Laser Guided Bomb components. The contracts call
for the manufacture and delivery of Paveway II LGB kit components for such
international customers as Egypt, Oman, South Korea, Taiwan and the UAE.

The Paveway II LGB system features an onboard guidance system that detects
and guides the unit to a target illuminated by an external laser source. The
semi-active laser guided munition is meant to destroy a target with far
fewer strikes than required by conventional weapons.

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