Murphy's Law: August 21, 2000

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Because NATO nations want to acquire new weapons based on their lessons from the Kosovo War, the US has agreed to provide an expedited review of requests for them. The Pentagon stresses that this is expedited decision, not expedited approval. All NATO nations will be able to get a quick review if they want to buy C-17 jet transports, C-130J turboprop transports, Aegis naval radar, numerous missiles (Harpoon, HARM, Hellfire, AIM-9X Sidewinder, AMRAAM), the Joint Stand Off Weapon, the Joint Direct Attack Munition, the well-known Mark-82 Paveway 2000 pound laser-guided bomb, recon pods for F-16s, LANTIRN pods for F-16s, various types of radios, and upgrades for attack aircraft or P-3C Orion patrol planes. Various nations will get special expedited review of requests for Joint Strike Fighters, Medium Extended Range Air Defense System, Patriot-3, Have Nap missiles, Standard Missile 2-III, F-16 mid-life upgrades, Hawk missiles, AWACS planes, and Cooperative Engagement Capability systems.--Stephen V Cole