HOLY HELLFIRE BATMAN - US 5000 HELLFIRE AIR-LAND MISSILES TO IRAQ

US to supply Iraq 5000 Hellfire missiles worth $ 700 million July 30, 12:50 UTC+4 WASHINGTON, July 30. / ITAR-TASS /. The US State Department has approved the deal of 5000 Hellfire air-land missiles AGM-114 that the Pentagon will give to Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported. The total contract amount will be $ 700 million. According to the Pentagon press release, "the missile directly supports the Government of Iraq and serves the interests of the people of Iraq and the United States”. It also noted that "Iraq will use the Hellfire missiles to help improve the Iraq Security Forces’ capability to support current ongoing ground operations." The US Defense Ministry explained that the Iraqi armed forces that already possess rockets of this type should not have problems with their use. All the necessary equipment for missile use and transportation included to the cost. An American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the production and supply of Hellfire missiles. These 5000 rockets have three versions of AGM-114 - K, N and R. http://en.itar-tass.com/world/742845l

Wall Street Journal - here. Iraq ... billions of dollars in deals for fighter jets, helicopters, armored vehicles, radar equipment and munitions. re Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the U.S. has stepped up surveillance flights over the country, and dispatched more than 700 U.S. forces there Pentagon ... expedited the sale of hundreds of Hellfires, which can be fired from planes and helicopters, to replenish Iraq's stockpile. U.S. has delivered 780 Hellfires to Iraq so far this year, including more than 450 arriving this month. Another 366 are due in August Lockheed formally delivered the first F-16 of a multibillion-dollar order from Iraq for the fighters. [Delivery of]  three more F-16s [due] this  year --  U.S. government yet to formally approve [fly] Harris Corp., the military communications specialist, said Tuesday that it had recently booked an order from Iraq for military radios ... ... part of US effort to [bolster]  the Iraqi military while the Pentagon develops proposals to counter the Islamic State.

While I was reading this, I kept thinking no wonder Assad is so confident.  Then I realised I had the wrong country and that this is IRAQ. 

Oops.  Still can't keep Middle East straight.

What I got out of this is:  war is money and plenty of it.  

As it's a reference to 'deals' and $700 mil, I take it the US isn't giving away weapons -- it's selling them.

From the Itar-Tass article, it looks like it was an all-inclusive deal (ie ancillary equipment and transportation).  

Got to wondering how they're going to pay.  Looks like a poor country.  Whenever you see pics of the Middle East, looks like a barren wasteland.

Check Wikipedia, indicates:

Oil reserves in Iraq are considered the world’s fifth-largest proven oil reserves, with 140 billion barrels

Iraq also has natural gas reserves.

So that's an official 'arms deal', I guess.