US recommends sale of maintenance and parts for UAE F-16 fleet

The paper quotes the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).as saying UAE is interested in a possible sale of support and maintenance of "classified and unclassified" F-16 fighter jet components as part of a  general maintenance and sustainment deal relating to its existing fleet of fighter jets, which were recently deployed in Libya to enforce a no-fly zone with Nato allies.

The items include aircraft systems and munitions, spare and repair parts, technical documents, personnel training communications equipment, and "other related elements of programme support", it said.

The sale was recommended to US Congress after the US agency called the UAE "an important force for peace, political stability, and economic progress in the Middle East" and recognised the Emirates' "legitimate security and defence needs", according to the paper's aerospace specialist Ivan Gale.

Although the posting reported that there was no company that would serve as the prime contractor for this deal, the aircraft are manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The US aerospace giant recently partnered with Sikorsky Aerospace Services and Mubadala Development, a strategic investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, to create a military aviation maintenance firm named AMMROC (Advanced Military Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Centre).