36(b)(1) Arms Sales Notification, 77040-77043 [2012-31420]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
• Office of the Secretary

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 250 (Monday, December 31, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77040-77043]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-31420]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary

[Transmittal Nos. 12-66]


36(b)(1) Arms Sales Notification

AGENCY: Department of Defense, Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text 
of a section 36(b)(1) arms sales notification. This is published to 
fulfill the requirements of section 155 of Public Law 104-164 dated 
July 21, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. B. English, DSCA/DBO/CFM, (703) 
601-3740. The following is a copy of a letter to the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, Transmittal 12-66 with attached transmittal, 
policy justification, and Sensitivity of Technology.

    Dated: December 26, 2012.
Aaron Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.

[[Page 77041]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN31DE12.000

Transmittal No. 12-66
Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to Section 
36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended
    (i) Prospective Purchaser: The Sultanate of Oman
    (ii) Total Estimated Value:

Major Defense Equipment\*\..............................     $82 million
Other...................................................     $35 million
                                                         ---------------
  TOTAL.................................................    $117 million
 

    (iii) Description and Quantity or Quantities of Articles or 
Services under Consideration for Purchase: 27 AIM-120C-7 Advanced 
Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM), 162 GBU-12 PAVEWAY II 500-lb 
Laser Guided Bombs, 162 FMU-152 bomb fuzes, 150 BLU-111B/B 500-lb 
Conical Fin General Purpose Bombs (Freefall Tail), 60 BLU-111B/B 500-lb 
Retarded Fin General Purpose Bombs (Ballute Tail), and 32 CBU-105 Wind 
Corrected Munitions Dispensers (WCMD). Also included are 20mm 
projectiles, Aerial Gunnery Target System (AGTS-36), training 
munitions, flares, chaff, containers, impulse cartridges, weapon 
support

[[Page 77042]]

equipment and components, repair and return, spare and repair parts, 
publications and technical documentation, personnel training and 
training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor representative 
logistics and technical support services, site survey, and other 
related elements of logistics support.
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    \*\ As defined in Section 47(6) of the Arms Export Control Act.
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    (iv) Military Department: Air Force (YAK)
    (v) Prior Related Cases, if any:

FMS case SAB-$1,418.9M-2Dec11
FMS case SDC-$693.2M-5Jun02
FMS case YEI-$50.6M-5Jun02
FMS case QAI-$16.4M-27Feb09
FMS case YEK-$377.9M-Awaiting Acceptance

    (vi) Sales Commission, Fee, etc., Paid, Offered, or Agreed to be 
Paid: None.
    (vii) Sensitivity of Technology Contained in the Defense Article or 
Defense Services Proposed to be Sold: See Attached Annex.
    (viii) Date Report Delivered to Congress: 10 December 2012.

Policy Justification

Oman--F-16 A/C Weapon Systems

    The Sultanate of Oman has requested a possible sale of 27 AIM-120C-
7 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM), 162 GBU-12 
PAVEWAY II 500-lb Laser Guided Bombs, 162 FMU-152 bomb fuzes, 150 BLU-
111B/B 500-lb Conical Fin General Purpose Bombs (Freefall Tail), 60 
BLU-111B/B 500-lb Retarded Fin General Purpose Bombs (Ballute Tail), 
and 32 CBU-105 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispensers (WCMD). Also 
included are 20mm projectiles, Aerial Gunnery Target System (AGTS-36), 
training munitions, flares, chaff, containers, impulse cartridges, 
weapon support equipment and components, repair and return, spare and 
repair parts, publications and technical documentation, personnel 
training and training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor 
representative logistics and technical support services, site survey, 
and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated cost is 
$117 million.
    This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and 
national security of the United States by helping to improve the 
security of a friendly country which has been, and continues to be, an 
important force for political stability and economic progress in the 
Middle East.
    The proposed purchase of munitions will improve Oman's capability 
to meet current and future regional threats and will provide a 
significant increase in the Royal Air Force of Oman's (RAFO) capability 
to support both its own air defense needs as well as those of coalition 
operations. This potential sale is in support of RAFO's current twelve 
F-16s as well as its ongoing acquisition of twelve additional F-16s. 
Oman should have no difficulty absorbing this additional capability 
into its armed forces.
    The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the 
basic military balance in the region.
    The principal contractors will be Raytheon Company in Waltham, 
Massachusetts; Textron Defense Systems in Wilmington, Massachusetts; 
General Dynamics in Falls Church, Virginia; and McAlester Army 
Ammunition Plant in McAlester, Oklahoma. There are no known offset 
agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.
    Implementation of this proposed sale will require multiple trips to 
Oman involving many U.S. Government or contractor representatives over 
a period of up to or over 15 years for program and technical support 
and training.
    There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a 
result of this proposed sale.
Transmittal No. 12-66
Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to Section 
36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act
Annex
Item No. vii
    (vii) Sensitivity of Technology:
    1. The AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) 
is a supersonic, air launched, aerial intercept, guided missile 
featuring digital technology and micro-miniature solid-state 
electronics. The missile employs active radar target tracking, 
proportional navigation guidance, and active Radio Frequency target 
detection. It can be launched day or night, in any weather and 
increases pilot survivability by allowing the pilot to disengage after 
missile launch and to engage other targets. AMRAAM capabilities include 
lookdown/shootdown, multiple launches against multiple targets, 
resistance to electronic countermeasures, and interception of high- and 
low-flying and maneuvering targets. AMRAAM All-Up-Round (AUR) is 
classified Confidential; major components and subsystems range from 
Unclassified to Confidential; and technical data and other 
documentation are classified up to Secret.
    2. The GBU-12 (Paveway II) is a 500-lb laser guided bomb. It 
consists of a MAU-169L/B Computer Control Group and MXU-650C/B Airfoil 
Group that converts an existing unguided BLU-111B/B free-fall bomb into 
precision-guided ``smart'' bomb. The control and airfoil groups enable 
the dumb bomb to acquire and guide to a point designated by an on or 
off board laser. Precision-guided munitions offer improved accuracy 
over free-fall bombs, thus providing the potential for reduced 
collateral damage. Information revealing target designation tactics and 
associated aircraft maneuvers, the probability of destroying specific/
peculiar targets, vulnerabilities regarding countermeasures and the 
electromagnetic environment is classified Secret.
    3. The FMU-152 is an electrical fuze used with a variety of 
precision guided weapons. It enables the bombs with which it is paired 
to function with a number of cockpit-selectable parameters. Hardware 
and technical data is Unclassified.
    4. The BLU-111B/B is a 500-pound, unguided, general purpose bomb 
that can be fitted with an array of fuzes (proximity, mechanical, 
electrical) and nose/tail kits (conical, retarded, and precision 
guided). Hardware, technical data, and other documentation may range 
from Unclassified to Secret depending upon the configuration of the 
bomb (as unguided or precision guided).
    5. The CBU-105D/B Sensor Fused Weapon (SFW) is an advanced, 1,000-
pound cluster bomb munition containing sensor fused sub-munitions that 
are designed to attack and defeat a wide range of moving or stationary 
land and maritime threats with minimal collateral damage. The SFW is 
the currently the only combat-proven, weapon that meets U.S. legal and 
policy requirements for cluster munition safety standards. Major 
components include the SUU-66 Tactical Munitions Dispenser (TMD), ten 
(10) BLU-108 sub-munitions, each with four (4) ``hockey puck'' shaped 
skeet infrared sensing projectiles for a total of forty (40) warheads. 
The munition, in its All-Up-Round (AUR) configuration, is Unclassified, 
while submunitions and technical data are classified up to Secret. 
Anti-tamper security measures are incorporated into the munition to 
prevent exploitation.
    6. Common Munitions Bit/Reprogramming Equipment (CMBRE)--CMBRE is a 
piece of support equipment used to interface with weapon systems to 
initiate Built-in-Test (BIT), report BIT results, and upload/download 
flight software. CMBRE supports multiple munitions platforms with a 
range of applications that perform preflight checks, periodic 
maintenance checks, loading of Operational Flight Program

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(OFP) data, loading of munitions mission planning data, loading of 
Global Positioning System (GPS) cryptographic keys, and 
declassification of munitions memory. CMBRE is a system that manages 
data and information classified up to Secret.
    7. Software, hardware, and other data/information, which is 
classified or sensitive, is reviewed prior to release to protect system 
vulnerabilities, design data, and performance parameters. Some end-item 
hardware, software, and other data identified above are classified at 
the Confidential and Secret level. Potential compromise of these 
systems is controlled through management of the hardware and software 
weapon systems on a case-by-case basis.
    8. If a technologically advanced adversary were to obtain knowledge 
of the specific hardware or software source code in this proposed sale, 
the information could be used to develop countermeasures which might 
reduce weapon system effectiveness or be used in the development of 
systems with similar or advance capabilities.
[FR Doc. 2012-31420 Filed 12-28-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5001-06-P