Bahrain has doubled its spending on defences amid intensified terror attacks in the GCC and Middle East, revealed a report by British defence and intelligence publication HS Jane’s.
The country has ordered defence imports estimated at $80 million in 2016, compared with $30 million in 2015, the publication’s defence analyst Ben Moores told Gulf News Daily.
“The deliveries what we believe were received by Bahrain last year included AIM-120C-7 (medium range air to air missile) worth $16m,” said Moores. “In addition to VVG-2 (laser rangefinder receivers) worth $4m, Javelin CLU (anti-tank missile) costing $3m and F-16 services for maintenance worth $10m.”
“Based on our forecast of what will be delivered this year to Bahrain includes AH-1 Cobra choppers worth $64m, VVG-2 (laser rangefinder receivers) worth $4m and F-16 services for maintenance worth $12m,” he said.
The worldwide defence budget reached a record-breaking $65 billion last year according to The Global Defence Trade Report.
Bahrain has been supporting the fight against terrorist group Islamic State through the United States’ Operation Inherent Resolve military intervention, which takes place mostly in Iraq and Syria.
In 2015, it also joined Saudi Arabia-led military intervention Operation Decisive Storm which targets Houthi militia in Yemen.
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