The United States announced a $350 million sale of military equipment and the refurbishing of helicopters and missile launchers to Bahrain.

According to the Economist's defense expenditures index for 2020, Bahrain is rated 12th in the world in terms of military spending as a percentage of GDP.

The State Department approved a Foreign Military Sale for refurbishment of a frigate sold to Bahrain, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced.

The U.S. State Department has approved a possible $6 billion worth of weapons sales to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in three separate packages, the Pentagon said on Friday after notifying Congress of the certification.

The American National Interest website considered that the Royal Bahraini Air Force will become the first operator of the most advanced and capable version of F-16 ever designed. Websites said that the $1.2 billion contract to buy fighters came to allow Bahrain keep pace with other regional competitors such Qatar.

Lockheed Martin Corp and two of its subsidiaries have been awarded a $1.1 billion contract for production of F-16 fighter jets for Bahrain.

Lockheed Martin was awarded a $1.1 billion contract to produce 16 F-16 Viper Block 70 fighter aircraft for Bahrain, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a release.

U.S. State Department announced that it has cleared Bahrain to buy as many as 3,200 bomb bodies for a cost of about $45 million.

A report issued by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an international institute based in Sweden, showed that Bahrain’s spending on armament reached 4.1% of GDP.

Chairman of the Board of BAE Systems for arms admitted that “BAE Systems equipment may have been used by Saudi forces in a military intervention to crush anti-government protests in Bahrain in 2011.”

US Department of Defense has approved possible sale of combat helicopters and aircraft missiles to Bahrain at an estimated cost of $911.4 million, a Pentagon agency said.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company said it is pleased that Bahrain’s deal to buy 16 F-16s worth over $2.3 billion will guarantee “pass to keep F-16 production line open for the next three to five years”.

Bahrain announced on Tuesday (October 17, 2017) it had signed a $3.8 billion deal with Lockheed Martin for 16 upgraded F-16 fighter jets, after US President Donald Trump’s administration resumed arms sales to Bahrain.

Sayed Ahmed Al-Wadaei, director of advocacy at Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy in London, published an article in “The Guardian” newspaper in which he said that his family is paying the price while Bahrain is buying arms in London.

Qatar's defense minister has signed a letter of intent to purchase 24 Typhoon jets from British defense group BAE Systems, in a move that could anger other Gulf countries boycotting Doha.

A British website revealed that “The government is under fire for the sale of ex-Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft to Bahrain, amid fears the planes could be used to support the deadly Saudi-led bombardment of Yemen.”

The Trump administration notified Congress last week that it soon planned to begin delivering precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia under a 2015 weapons deal, congressional officials said on Tuesday.

The “Defense One” website specialized in American military affairs said that the move taken by the Trump administration and represented by removing human rights conditions from a multibillion-dollar F-16 sale to Bahrain is likely to have severe repercussions for American interests in the Middle East.

The US-based New York Times reported that Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has decided to lift all human rights conditions on a major sale of F-16 fighter jets and other arms to Bahrain in an effort to end a rift between the United States and a critical Middle East ally.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) awarded 4.5 billion dirhams ($1.2 billion) in military procurement deals on Sunday, part of a total of 20 billion dirhams worth of purchases it expects to make at an arms fair this week, a spokesman for the expo said.