US plans to transfer 4,000 Hellfire II missiles to Iraq
Hellfire II missiles. Image credit – Lockhead Martin.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The US plans to transfer 4,000 Hellfire II missile to Iraq with the hope that it will confer it with a decisive advantage against insurgents from the organization of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Officials were told by the State Department last week that the Obama administration is trying to complete the sale with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government.
Members of the U.S. Senate and House Foreign Relations Committees will conduct a review of the planned sale. The process can take up to 40 days, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.
“As a matter of policy, we decline to comment on cases that have not been formally notified to Congress,” Josh Paul, a spokesman for the State Department bureau in charge of security assistance told the news outlet.
If the sale of the 4,000 laser-guided missiles is completed, it would add to a previous Iraqi purchase of 500 missiles.
On Friday, Iraq’s ambassador to the U.S., Lukman Faily, criticized the Obama administration for failing to deliver weapons more quickly to the region. He added that “further delay only benefits the terrorists.”
Lockhead Martin video of a Hellfire II Romeo missile test: