The United States State Department has approved more than $6.5 billion in potential military sales to Israel in three separate contracts, the Pentagon said on Friday.
The US State Department approved a potential sale of Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and related equipment for an estimated cost of $1.98 billion, and another sale of AH-64E Apache Helicopters for $3.8 billion, the Pentagon said in separate statements.
A third military contract was also awarded for $740 million.
The principal contractor for the first sale is AM General LLC, while Boeing and Lockheed Martin are the contractors for the sale of Apache helicopters.
Earlier this month, on January 12, the US Navy awarded an $11 million contract to Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary, ELTA North America.
The ELTA North America was awarded for the design, development, and production of advanced airborne communications jammers intended to be integrated into aircraft that are part of the Navy’s Stand-off Jammer Jets program.
US approves potential $9 billion sale of Patriot missiles to Saudi Arabia
The US State Department additionally approved the potential sale of Patriot advanced capability-3 missile segment enhancement missiles and related equipment to Saudi Arabia for an estimated cost of $9 billion, the Pentagon stated in a separate release.
The principal contractor for the sale is Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon said in a statement.
In November, the US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed multiple diplomatic agreements, including one regarding the future sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia requested to purchase 48 of the aircraft. Prior to Riyadh’s purchase request, Israel was the only Middle Eastern nation with US F-35s.
Anna Ahronheim and Corinne Baum contributed to this report.