Lebanese Army is replenishing its stock of TOW and Hellfire Missiles

Within two weeks, three orders were placed to procure TOW II and Hellfire II missiles as part of larger contracts to supply other countries. The Lebanese army already effectively use these two missiles for some years now, and were used recently in the Fajr al-Jurud operation against ISIS.

1. September 18/28 2017: Two orders for an unspecified number of TOW II missiles with completion date in 2018 and 2020 respectively.
   Contract 1
   

   Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $292,436,322 modification (PZ0055) to foreign military sales (Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Thailand, Bahrain, and Morocco) contract W31P4Q-12-C-0265 for Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wireless-guided missiles. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona; and Farmington, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2018. Fiscal 2010 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $292,436,322 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

   Contract 2
   

   Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $300,088,180 fixed-price-incentive domestic and foreign military sales (Lebanon, Jordon and Morocco) contract for Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wireless-guided missiles for the Army, Marine Corps and foreign military sales customers. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona; and Farmington, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of July 31, 2020. Fiscal 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2017 other procurement (Army); foreign military sales; and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds in the combined amount of $300,088,180 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-17-C-0194).

    
2. September 28, 2017: Order for an unspecified number of Hellfire II missiles with expected completion in 2020.
   

   Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Florida, has been awarded a $103,287,296 modification (P00060) to foreign military sales (Croatia, Lebanon, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates) contract W31P4Q-15-C-0151 for Hellfire II missile production. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2020. Fiscal 2015, 2016 and 2017 other procurement (Army) and other funds in the combined amount of $103,287,296 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Contracts information quoted from https://www.defense.gov/

It is worth noting that these, and previously ordered/delivered TOW missiles are wirelessly guided to the contrary of what some military experts still describe the TWO missile as "wire-guided". Besides, while we do not know how many Hellfire missiles the LAF has used so far since the first delivery, but its arsenal of Hellfire missile seems to have been growing over the past few years thanks to multiple deliveries/contracts.

This article first appeared on LAF Digest (Unofficial)