ABSTRACT
The US has other tools that strengthen its contingency capabilities in the Southern Gulf. The US only makes limited use of economic or military aid as a tool for strengthening its contingency capabilities in the Gulf—in part because of the steady world-wide reductions the US is making in all forms of spending on aid. Such military aid is unnecessary in the case of the wealthier Gulf states—Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Bahrain and Oman, however, lack the funds to pay for the modernization of their military forces, and Oman has only received limited aid from the other Southern Gulf states. The importance of arms transfers was demonstrated during and immediately after the Gulf War. The US has also reached major new sales agreements with the Southern Gulf states that have since allowed them to modernize their forces in ways that improve regional defense capabilities, substantially increase their interoperability with US forces.
