US Arms Sales Privileges for GCC Arise Out of Shared Missile Defense Plans

On May 14, after the meeting of Barack Obama with the GCC countries' leaders, the US offered assistance in the development of a GCC-wide BMD system. In 2013, the US decided to treat the GCC states as an international organization for the purposes of its FMS program, facilitating the execution of international defense contracts.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — The special status that the United States has assigned to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program is a result of extensive US-GCC cooperation on shared missile defense architecture, a US State Department official told Sputnik on Thursday.

"The United States and our GCC partners have had years of productive cooperation on ballistic missile defense [BMD] planning, and we have had productive discussions on shared BMD architecture. This was contemplated in the President’s decision in December 2013 to treat the GCC states as an international organization for Foreign Military Sales."

The meeting, which took place in Camp David with GCC leaders from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in attendance, covered a number of regional security cooperation issues, including BMD.

Following the meeting, the United States decided to help conduct a study of GCC ballistic missile defense architecture and to offer technical assistance in the development of a GCC-wide Ballistic Missile Early Warning System.

US President Barack Obama's 2013 decision allows the country "to deliver on a commitment to make the Gulf a stronger, more capable partner in confronting the many challenges to our shared interests in the region," the State Department official concluded.

Concern over Iran’s nuclear program and the advances in the country’s ballistic missile technology made the GCC states deploy Patriot missiles and consider purchasing Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems from the United States.