Pentagon Announces Over $2 Billion Arms Sale for Iraq

The Pentagon today notified Congress of a foreign military sale to Iraq potentially worth up to $2.257 billion. The sale includes a laundrey list of equipment, ranging from a fleet of Humvees to 10 armored Mercedes. Other equipment includes:

Upgrade and refurbishment of 32 additional UH-I HUEY helicopters to the UH-II configuration; Armored Land Cruisers (189); Armored Mercedes (10); Light utility trucks (1,815); Fire trucks (70); Fuel trucks (40); Septic truck (20); Water truck (45); Motorcycles (112); Sedans (1,425); 5 Ton Trucks (600); Medium Trucks (600); BTR 3E1 (336); 8 Ton Trucks (400); 12 Ton Trucks (400); 16-35 Ton Trucks (100); 35 Ton Trucks (20); Ambulances (122); Bulldozers (33); Excavators (10); Wheeled Loader (20); Variable Reach Forklifts (10); 5Kw generators (447); ILAV Route Clearing Vehicle (55); Wrecker w/Boom (19); Fuel Pumps (34); 11 Passenger Bus (127); 24 Passenger Bus (207); 44 Passenger Bus (80); Contact Maintenance Trucks (105); communication towers, troposcatter and Microwave radios, IDN, DPN, VSAT Operations and Maintenance, (1,518) VHF Wheeled Tactical and Base Station Radios, (4,800) VHF hand-held radios, (6,490) VHF man pack radios, clothing and individual equipment, standard and non-standard vehicle spare and repair parts, maintenance, support equipment, publications and documentation; personnel training and training equipment; Quality Assurance Team support services, U.S. Government and contractor engineering and logistics support services, preparation of aircraft for shipment, and other related elements of logistics support.

And I almost forgot: 123,544 M16A4 Rifles.

Think this all is a drop in the foreign military sales bucket? Well, not quite, total sales have fluctuated between around $10 and $20 billion annually (these are rough numbers) over the last few years, so $2 billion is actually a significant chunk of that amount.