The ISIS Fight Is Reshaping US Arms Exports to Its Partners

December 3, 2015 | http://www.defenseone.com/management/2015/12/isis-fight-reshaping-us-arms-exports-its-partners/124161/?oref=defenseone_today_nl
By Marcus Weisgerber

A slight uptick in approvals for sales to anti-ISIS coalition partners has masked a big shift in the kinds of weapons being sold.

By raw value, the $45.8 billion in U.S. arms sales approved in the past 16 months for countries battling the Islamic State and other militants is just a bit more than the $43 billion approved for the same countries over the same duration before coalition airstrikes began. But the kinds of weapons going to those countries — Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and others — have shifted dramatically.
Marcus Weisgerber is the global business reporter for Defense One, where he writes about the intersection of business and national security. He has been covering defense and national security issues for nearly a decade, previously as Pentagon correspondent for Defense News and chief editor of ... Full Bio

The earlier deals focused largely on longer-term investments, maintaining existing equipment, and building up weapons stocks. The more recent ones have been largely for tactical equipment: bombs, missiles, tanks, armored trucks and antitank weapons needed on the battlefield today, according to documents and U.S. government officials.http://www.defenseone.com/management/2015/12/isis-fight-reshaping-us-arms-exports-its-partners/124161/?oref=defenseone_today_nl