US approves billions in arms sales to Middle East countries (updated)

Rtx

19/03/2026 16:22

(Adds details, background throughout; changes story identifier
from USA-ARMS/UAE)
       March 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on
Thursday approved potential arms sales to three Middle East
countries worth more than $16.5 billion as the war with Iran
intensifies.
    The State Department approved the potential sale of
missiles, drones, radar systems and F-16 munitions and upgrades
to the United Arab Emirates for a combined total of more than
$8.4 billion, it said in statements.
    Also approved were possible sales of lower-tier air and
missile defense sensor radars to Kuwait for an estimated cost of
$8 billion and aircraft and munitions support to Jordan for an
estimated cost of $70.5 million.
    The sales follow Iran's attacks on energy infrastructure in
response to Israeli attacks on its gas facilities, which marked
the biggest escalation of the nearly three-week war, causing gas
prices to surge and oil prices to rise further.
    The State Department said the principal contractors in the
sales will include RTX Corporation  RTX.N , Northrop Grumman
 NOC.N  and Lockheed Martin Corporation  LMT.N .
     

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto
and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington;
Editing by David Ljunggren, Rod Nickel)
((mailto:Bhargav.Acharya@thomsonreuters.com;))