US plans to sell bunker-busters to persian gulf states

American media reported that the US has a clandestine program to widen the gap among the regional countries by selling bunker-buster bombs to certain Persian Gulf Arab states.The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the Obama administration has quietly drawn up plans to provide a key Persian Gulf ally with thousands of advanced "bunker-buster" bombs and other munitions, part of a stepped-up US effort to build a regional coalition to widen the gap among the regional states through increasing the level of their threat to other regional states. The proposed sale to the United Arab Emirates would vastly expand the existing capabilities of the country's air force to target fixed structures, which could include bunkers and tunnels. The Obama administration also supplied 2,000 bunker-buster bombs to Israel earlier this year. In November, 2010 the United States announced its plans to offer Saudi Arabia $60 bln worth of hi-tech fighters and helicopters in the largest ever US arms deal. Meantime, a report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of the US Congress said last year that PGCC countries have bought US weapons worth $37bln between 2005 to 2009. The Persian Gulf countries splashed $37 billion on buying the US weapons during 2005 to 2009 with 88 per cent of them went to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the report said. The Defense Department authorized about $22 billion of transfers under the Foreign Military Sales program to the Persian Gulf countries, the GAO found. Saudi Arabia and the UAE accounted for more than 88 percent of the total value. Between 2005 and 2009, the UAE had about $11 billion in authorized arms transfers; Saudi Arabia was next with about $8 billion. The UAE's biggest purchase was Patriot defense missile system valued at $6.5 billion in 2009. The emirate is also considering a $10-billion fighter jet deal with the US, media reports said earlier this month. In all, the Persian Gulf states are expected to spend approximately $123bln on the purchase of US arms in the coming years. Saudi Arabia will top the list with $67 billion, followed by the UAE ($40bln), Oman ($12bln) and Kuwait ($7bln). Meanwhile, Israel has signed a contract to 'purchase' 20 US-built and -funded F-35 stealth fighter jets. Tel Aviv's Defense Ministry Director General Udi Shani signed the agreement, worth nearly $3 billion, during a ceremony in New York on Thursday, Israeli daily Haaretz reports, noting that "the entire deal will be funded by the American military." According to the deal, Israel will receive the attack aircraft between 2015 and 2017, at a price of $96 million per plane, together with simulators and spare parts, with a total price tag of $2.75 billion. The deal also grants the Israeli regime the option of ordering 75 more jets.