21st Century Wire says…
The business of defense.
In order to sustain mammoth defense sector based in North America, the U.S. relies on international procurement and sales of both new and close-out military industrial goods.
Although a relatively small country in size, Lebanon is a key position on the Middle East chessboard, and could one day become an emerging military market for US defense corporations. In Washington DC, however, the topic of US military aid the Lebanon is a relatively hushed affair because of the Israeli Lobby’s influence over US lawmakers. Technically, Israel and its neighbor Lebanon aew still at war, so any US funds allocated to the Lebanese Armed Forces is seen as an affront to Tel Aviv.
In 2014, the US awarded $156 million in aid to Lebanon – which is money that Lebanon would be required to spend exclusively with US corportions, as per the usual arrange with all ‘tied’ US aid (except for Israel, who seems to enjoy a more flexible arrangement with some special dispensation to spend its annual $3.2 billion in US military aid where it wants).
Here are the specs of Lebanon’s defense orders from US firms…
Boiling Frogs Post – Researcher Christian Sorensen analyzes weapon sales from the U.S. war industry to the Lebanese armed forces. U.S. Foreign Military Sales to Lebanon are publicly available on the U.S. Department of Defense website. FMS to Lebanon involve: aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, communications, small arms & light weapons, ground vehicles, water craft, and foreign liaison administration.
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Pertinent contract dates:
Orbital ATK: 28 May 2015, 13 Jan 2012
ATSC: 20 Dec 2012, 31 July 2013
Textron: 15 March 2016
Northrop Grumman (Litton Industries): 30 July 1996
Sierra Nevada: 30 October 2015
Boeing (Insitu): 30 Sept 2015
Harris Corporation: 25 Sept 2015
Colt: 21 May 2015, 8 Aug 1995
Hellfire Systems (Lockheed Martin & Boeing JV): 17 Dec 2014
Raytheon: 30 Sept 2014
Corporations providing crew served weapon gear: 17 May 2011
Medico Industries: 17 March 2011
AM General: 6 July 2015, 23 Sept 2015
Maritime Security Strategies: 14 Jan 2011
Corporations providing liaison tech/admin support: 25 July 2014
READ MORE LEBANON NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Lebanon Files
