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The Defense Security Cooperation Agency confirmed the greenlight for the sale in December.
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The US Secretary of State has approved the possible foreign military sale of 155mm projectiles and equipment to the Israeli government in December, valued at an estimated US$147.5 million.
Congressional review requirements were waved ahead of the sale under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act.
According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the Secretary of State outlined that due to the ongoing “emergency” in the region, the sale should be finalised immediately as it poses a continued risk to the security interests of the United States.
Israel is expected to use the recent acquisition as a deterrent to regional threats.
The sale will be delivered from US Army stock, though the DSCA outlined that the sale will not have any adverse impacts on US defence readiness.
The recent announcement is an amendment on existing agreements, which the DSCA detailed increases the acquisition value above notification thresholds.
Valued at $96.51 million, the original sale included 4,792 rounds of M107 155mm artillery ammunition, 52,229 rounds of M795 155 mm artillery ammunition, and 30,000 M4 propelling charges.
The new order is expected to include additional ancillary items such as fuses, primers, and chargers that will increase the total cost to $147.5 million.
The sale comes as Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands were given approval to acquire 940 FIM-92K Stinger Block I surface-to-air missiles under a possible US$780 million foreign military sale approved by the US State Department.
DSCA notified the US Congress of the possible sale to the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (acting on behalf of the three countries) on 22 December.
The sale is expected to include the FIM-92K Stinger Block I missiles, battery coolant units, metal containers, US government and contractor production, and technical and engineering assistance.
The FIM-92K Stinger is a variant of FIM-92J man-portable air defence system and is designed to use a vehicle datalink rather than the missile’s own seeker for targeting. The base FIM-92 Stinger operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile, which can be adapted to fire from ground vehicles and helicopters.
Defence primes Raytheon and Lockheed Martin would act as the prime contractors, with no known offset agreements proposed in connection with the potential sale or assignment of any US government personnel or contractor representatives to NATO.
The Stinger man-portable air defence system was originally developed in the United States, before entering service in 1981. It has since expanded its use by militaries across more than 30 countries.
