State Department Greenlights Nearly $5B in Arms Exports

Between March and May, the Trump administration approved nearly $5 billion in arms deals to U.S. allies, according to the Pentagon and State Department. Here's a summary (date approved / value / contractors):

• 12 MD-530 attack helicopters with machine guns and rockets for Kenya to fight al Shabaab. (May 2 / $253 million / MD Helicopters)
• 110 anti-radiation missiles for Australia’s new EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft. (April 28 / $137.6 million / Orbital ATK and Raytheon)
• Four P-8 submarine-hunting planes for New Zealand, which is replacing its P-3s. (April 28 / $1.46 billion / Boeing and two dozen subcontractors)
• Nine Bell 429 helicopters for Slovakia, which will use them for homeland defense. (April 28 / $150 million / Bell Helicopter)
• Five used CH-47D Chinook helicopters for Greece, which wants to modernize and expand its helicopter fleet. (April 28 / $80 million / None; from U.S. Army fleet)
• C-17 maintenance and logistics for NATO. (April 28 / $300 million / Boeing)
• Infrared countermeasures for NATO’s C-17s. (April 28 / $33.5 million / Northrop Grumman)
• 13 76-millimeter guns for Israel’s missile patrol boats. (April 28 / $440 million / DRS Technologies (Leonardo))
• C-17 maintenance for Canada. (April 20 / $195 million / Boeing and Lockheed Martin)
• Two Peshmerga infantry brigades and two support artillery battalions of machine guns, up-armored Humvees and other equipment for Iraq to fight ISIS. (April 19 / $295.6 million / AM General, Oshkosh, Navistar, Harris, and Colt)
• Pilot and maintenance training, plus logistics support for the Iraqi military. (April 12 / $1.06 billion / Spartan College)
• Construction and upgrades at Kuwait’s Al Mubarak. (April 6 / $319 million / U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
• 1,000 Hellfire missiles for the U.K. for the campaign against ISIS. (March 16 / $150 million / Transfer from U.S. military stockpiles)
• 2,000 XM395 Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative rounds for Singapore to modernize its forces. (March 14 / $66 million / Orbital ATK)

In Trump’s first days as president, State announced seven arms deal worth $2 billion. Those were deals largely approved by the Obama administration, but announced after Trump moved into the White House on Jan. 20.

Related: Obama’s Final Arms-Export Tally More than Doubles Bush’s

Related: Global Business Brief: May 4, 2017

In all, the previous administration approved some $323 billion in arms exports over eight years. After three months, Trump's team is on track to hit less than half that amount.