Bahrain Mirror: 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.

In October, the government of Bahrain announced that it had finalized a $3.8 billion deal with Lockheed for the F-16 purchase.

Work under the $1,124,545,002 fixed-price-incentive-firm contract is expected to be complete by September 30, 2023, the Friday, June 22 release said.

Bahrain will thus become one of the first Gulf states to own this generation of fighter jets.

Bahrain has been witnessing tensions since the authorities suppressed a protest movement in February 2011 in the midst of the Arab Spring, led by a Shi'ite majority whose leaders demand constitutional monarchy in the kingdom ruled by the Sunni Al Khalifa family. Authorities have come under sharp criticism for suppressing opponents of the regime.

Arabic Version