Bahrain Receives U.S. Clearance for M1A2 Abrams Battle Tanks

The U.S. State Department has approved Bahrain's acquisition of M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks and associated equipment, costing an estimated $2.2 billion.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency has notified Congress of this sale.

Bahrain's request includes 50 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams Main Battle Tanks, 4 M88A2 HERCULES Combat Recovery Vehicles, 8 M1110 Joint Assault Bridges, 8 M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicles, 8 Heavy Assault Scissor Bridges (HASB), 100 M240 Coaxial 7.62mm machine guns, 3 AGT1500 Gas Turbine engines, 6,000 120mm M1002 Target Practice Multipurpose Tracer (TPMP-T) projectiles, and 5,760 120mm M1147 High Explosive Multipurpose Tracers. Additionally, it includes M2A1 .50 caliber machine guns, Common Remote Operated Weapons Station Low Profile (CROWS-LP), Forward Repair System, M250 smoke grenade launchers, service and training ammunition, M1300/M1302 Enhanced Heavy Equipment Transporter System (EHETS), M978A4 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) tanker and Load Handling System (LHS), M074A1 Palletized Load Systems and trailers and flat racks, support and test equipment, integration and test support, spare and repair parts, Special Tools and Test Equipment (STTE), communications equipment, Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM)-based Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, software delivery and support, Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) equipment, publications and technical manuals, maintenance trainers, training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services, Next Generation Automatic Test System (NGATS), and other related logistics and program support, with an estimated total cost of $2.2 billion.

The principal contractors are General Dynamics Land Systems, BAE Systems, Leonardo DRS, Honeywell Aerospace, RTX Corporation, and Lockheed Martin.