By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and its closest regional partners have shown interest in the purchase of an advanced Lockheed Martin Corp
"Look, all of the (Gulf Cooperation Council) nations have an interest," Dennis Cavin, a company vice president for army and missile-defense programs, told a teleconference.
The council known as GCC is a political and economic alliance linking Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
Lockheed, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier by sales, received an initial, $1.96 billion contract in December for two of its so-called Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon systems for the United Arab Emirates.
This marked the first foreign sale of the system, coming as tensions with Iran have risen over its disputed nuclear program. Such foreign sales are increasingly important to U.S. arms makers as the Pentagon's budget flattens because of U.S. deficit-reduction requirements.
THAAD is a U.S. Army system designed to shoot down short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles with an interceptor that slams into its target. It can accept cues from Lockheed's Aegis weapons system, satellites and other external sensors and work in tandem with the Patriot PAC-3 terminal air-defense missile.
Fueling the interest in THAAD, Cavin said, was a U.S. military push to stitch together an integrated air and missile defense architecture across the region as well as what he called a recognition by GCC states that "they need the best capability they can get against the threat set that's there."
Mat Joyce, Lockheed's vice president for THAAD, said it was premature to discuss specific potential buyers "but as they notify the U.S. government officially of their interest we'll be happy to provide that information to you."
Cavin and Joyce spoke from Huntsville, Alabama, during a space and missile-defense conference. THAAD is part of a layered missile shield being built to defend the United States and its friends and allies against ballistic missiles of all ranges and in all phases of flight. The system is being optimized as a hedge against Iran and North Korea.
A major U.S.-led effort is under way to protect NATO's European territory against ballistic missiles that could be fired by Iran, for instance, in retaliation for any preemptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Lockheed describes THAAD as the only system with the flexibility to intercept targets both inside and outside the earth's atmosphere.
Other leading missile-defense contractors include Boeing Co
President Barack Obama's administration notified Congress last month of a possible sale to Kuwait of 60 PATRIOT Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missiles and associated gear in a deal worth up to $4.2 billion.
Such a sale would help deter regional threats among other things, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation said in the notice to lawmakers.
(Reporting by Jim Wolf; Editing by Gary Hill)
