Boeing signed a letter of intent with Jordan, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, for AH-6i light attack and reconnaissance helicopters in Amman May 12.

The number of helicopters involved in the contract was not announced. But Maj. Gen. Malek Habashneh, commander of the 12,000-strong Jordanian air force, said the AH-6s could replace the two squadrons of 25 AH-1F Cobra gunships currently in the Jordanian inventory.

"We're really planning to have a replacement for our Cobras," he said. "If we're satisfied with the replacement we'll retire the Cobras."

The Jordanians, who have received around $6 billion in U.S. military aid since 1952, are aiming to bolster their border security, with Iraq to the east, Israel to the west, Syria to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south.

The AH-6i, "with its modern and integrated systems, will provide us with great capabilities at a reasonable, low operating cost," Habashneh said.

Boeing launched the AH-6i program in 2008, primarily for export.

Meantime, French defense sources reported that discussions with the United Arab Emirates for the sale of Dassault Aviation Rafale strike jets are taking longer than expected, but could be wrapped up by the end of the year.

If that proves to be the case, the emirates, which has one of the most potent air forces in the region, would be able to start taking delivery of the aircraft by 2014 and have them operational by 2015.

Dassault has taken orders for 280 Rafales, all for the French armed forces. The aerospace giant has to secure its first Rafale export order, so a lot is riding on the sales drive in the United Arab Emirates.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said during a recent tour of the region that France hopes to sell 14-28 Rafales, worth as much as $3 billion, to the gulf state. But there have been unconfirmed reports that the number could reach 60.

Sarkozy has personally headed the Rafale sales campaign, which includes a possible $4.4 billion deal with Brazil for 36 of the jets.

The French defense contractors involved in the Rafale -- primarily Thales, Safran and Sagem -- have formed joint ventures with Bayuna Aviation Technology, an emirates aerospace firm, presumably to enhance sales prospects.

Bayuna was founded and headed by Gen. Khaled al Bui-Ainain, commander of the emirates' air force in 1998-2005 and a leading promoter of French groups in the emirates.

Bayuna is already a partner with Dassault in a joint venture called Dasbat Aviation that includes the French MBDA missile manufacturer.

The emirates' air force has been working with Dassault and the French defense procurement agency DGA, to sell the 60 Dassault Mirage 2000-9 fighters in the gulf federation's inventory as part of the Rafale deal.

But no buyback deal has emerged, presumably because so few countries use the Mirage that reselling the second-hand jets is a problem.

The emirates seeks an upgraded version of the Rafale -- French forces are slated to get the latest F4 variant -- fitted with Thales' RBE2 active electronically scanned array radar and state-of-the-art electronic warfare suite along with SNECMA's M-88 engine.

French officials have said that Dassault is also close to closing a $4.4 billion deal with Brazil for 36 jets.

A potential deal to sell up to 28 Rafales to Kuwait ran into trouble in March when Islamist lawmakers in the emirate's feisty 50-seat parliament, rejected the deal, apparently because of suspicions of graft by government officials. Sarkozy visited Kuwait in 2009 seeking to bolster the deal.

On May 21, Maryland's Lockheed Martin signed a $40 million Foreign Military Sales contract to deliver Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods to the Saudi air force, the second such deal since March 2009.

These will be installed in the Saudis' 70 operational F-15S. The pods provide extremely precise weapons targeting for multiple fixed and moving targets and a high-performance datalink for real-time coordination between aircrews and ground forces.

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