By Christopher Overfelt

Excerpts from the 4^th issue of the Midwest Weapons Report (MWR) follow. Email midwestweaponsreport@proton.me to request an email with the full report.

Bureaucratic mechanisms of US weapons transfers–excerpts

• The weapon systems covered in MWR issues 2 and 3, which are manufactured in the Midwest US, are provided to Israel and other foreign countries through the US State Department. The Arms Export Control Act gives the president of the US sole discretion on which countries receive American weapons. The State Department and the Department of Defense then facilitate the logistics of the weapons transfers.
• While Congress has passed laws in attempts to provide transparency and oversight to foreign military sales (Arms Export Control Act passed in 1976, Foreign Assistance Act passed in 1997), these laws are largely procedural and ineffective. Evidence of this can be seen in the Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s March 1, 2025, emergency transfer of $4 billion worth of American weapons to Israel. You can view the Secretary of State’s statement on the emergency transfer here: https://il.usembassy.gov/military-assistance-to-israel/.
• Under Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act, the president or secretary of state must notify Congress of any major arms transfer worth more than $100 million to Israel or another close ally 15 calendar days in advance before the administration can proceed with the transaction. However, that same section allows the president to waive the 15-day review process by informing Congress that “an emergency exists,” necessitating that the sale be made immediately, if deemed “in the national security interests of the United States.”
• The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said that the March 2025 weapons sale (to Israel) included 35,529 BLU-117 2,000-pound bombs, which are among the most powerful and destructive in the US inventory. The BLU-117 uses the same bomb body as the MK-84, made by General Dynamics in Dallas, Texas, as covered in MWR issue 2. The Arms Export Control Act (AECA) includes a mechanism where Congress can vote on a Joint Resolution of Disapproval to block a weapons transfer enacted by the State Department. This mechanism, however, has never in the history of AECA been used by Congress to successfully block a weapons shipment. The heavy lobbying and funding of campaigns by weapons manufacturers to members of Congress of both parties ensure that this mechanism will not be used to halt American weapons sales and the resulting profits for American weapons manufacturers.
• There are also provisions in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1997 that prohibit the transfer of US weapons to entities who have been determined to use the weapons to violate international humanitarian law. However, the office that determines who is and who isn’t violating international law is the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, which is a Bureau within the Department of State itself. Since the Department of State, along with the President, decides who gets US weapons, the findings of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor are politicized and effectively falsified to allow war criminals to receive US weapons and use them to violate international humanitarian law.
• The Defense Security Cooperation Agency is the agency within the Department of Defense tasked with managing the logistics of Foreign Military Sales and Foreign Military Financing. You can visit their website here: https://www.dsca.mil/. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency publishes a list of the State Department’s most recent weapons sales here: https://www.dsca.mil/Press-Media/Major-Arms-Sales. Together, the Foreign Military Sales program and the Foreign Military Financing program sustain the pipeline of US taxpayer dollars flowing into the pockets of private US weapons manufacturers.
• The AECA allows private US weapons manufacturers to sell weapons directly to foreign governments, effectively incentivizing US weapons manufacturers to increase conflict around the world in order to raise profits. Nearly 40% of all weapons sales worldwide now come from private US weapons manufacturers. The Department of Defense openly boasts about the profits its arms sales bring to US weapons manufacturers, as it holds and sponsors multiple defense industry expos every year around the world where US weapons manufacturers show off their newest deadly products. These expos are paid for by the US Department of Defense (taxpayer money) and directly contribute to the profits of US weapons manufacturers.
• The enormous profits raised by the Foreign Military Sales and Foreign Military Financing programs for US weapons manufacturers are then used to funnel money into campaign contributions for the Democratic and Republican National Committees. By directly funding Democratic and Republican congressional candidates, US weapons manufacturers ensure that the process of corruption within the Departments of State and Defense are not investigated or even acknowledged. In congressional and presidential races, and within Congress and the White House itself, very little discussion is ever had about the enormous burden the military budget places on the American people, and the corruption within the budget to funnel taxpayer money into the pockets of millionaire weapons manufacturer CEO’s and shareholders. This governmental silence around the corruption within the military budget is purposeful, as these congressional and presidential candidates are funded by the military industrial complex itself. Indeed, three out of the last four US Secretaries of Defense were either on the board or directly employed by Raytheon or Boeing.          

Latest weapons shipments to Israel–excerpts

The Government of Israel has requested to buy thirty-five thousand five hundred twenty-nine (35,529) MK 84 or BLU-117 General Purpose (GP) bomb bodies, or a combination of both; and four thousand (4,000) I-2000 Penetrator warheads. The following items will also be included: spare parts, consumables, accessories, and repair and return support; transportation support; US government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated total cost is $2.04 billion. The prime contractors will be General Dynamics, located in Garland, TX; Ellwood National Forge Company, located in Irvine, PA; and McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, located in McAlester, OK.

The Government of Israel has requested to buy two thousand one hundred sixty-six (2,166) GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs Increment 1 (SDB-I); two thousand eight hundred (2,800) MK 82 General Purpose, 500-pound bomb bodies; thirteen thousand (13,000) KMU-556E/B, or KMU-556H/B with SABR-Y, KMU-556F/B, or KMU-556J/B Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) Guidance Kits for the MK-84 bomb body; three thousand four hundred seventy-five (3,475) KMU-557E/B, or KMU-557F/B, or KMU-557H/B with SABR-Y, or KMU-557J/B JDAM Guidance Kits for the BLU-109 bomb body; one thousand four (1,004) KMU-572E/B, or KMU-572F/B, KMU-572H/B with SABR-Y, or KMU-572J/B JDAM Guidance Kits for GBU-38v1; and seventeen thousand four hundred seventy-five (17,475) FMU-152A/B fuzes. The following items will also be included: FMU-139 fuzes; bomb components; munitions support and support equipment; and other related elements of logistics and program support. This proposed sale will be from both US inventory, as available, and from principal contractors The Boeing Company, located in St. Louis, MO; ATK Tactical Systems Company LLC, located in Rocket Center, WV; L3Harris Fuzing and Ordnance Systems, located in Cincinnati, OH; and McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, located in McAlester, OK.

The Government of Israel has requested to buy three thousand (3,000) AGM-114 Hellfire Air-to-Ground Missiles, to include one or any combination of the R3, F, F/A, K1, K1A, K2, K3, K3A, KA, N, N3, and/or R variants. The following non-MDE items will also be included: support and test equipment; integration and test support; spare and repair parts; software delivery and support; publications and technical documentation; personnel training and training equipment; U.S. Government and contractor engineering; technical and logistics support services; storage; and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated total cost is $660 million. The principal contractor will be the Lockheed Martin Corporation, located in Troy, AL.

• As mentioned above, the 35,529 MK 84 or BLU-117 General Purpose (GP) bomb bodies sold to Israel by the US State Department in this latest weapons transfer are the same bombs made by General Dynamics in Garland, TX, and assembled in McAlester, OK, as covered in MWR issue 2. These bombs, roughly the size of an automobile, weigh over 2,000 pounds and are being dropped by the US empire on women and children who are living in tents in Gaza. This wholesale slaughter of Palestinians by the US empire is being facilitated in order to commit the crime against humanity of genocide. Genocide, under international law, is the gravest crime human beings can commit.

War in Yemen–excerpts

• The American empire’s foreign policy towards the Middle East is one of uncompromising domination and control. The abundant oil, gas, and mineral reserves in this region, along with the vital trade routes in the Red Sea, through which a majority of the world’s overseas shipping passes, makes the region the single most important strategic asset in preserving the profit and power of American empire. The US funds and provides weapons and training to a majority of the governments in the region: Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, and Kuwait. In exchange for American weapons and money, the governments in these countries brutally repress their own populations to prevent any resistance that might arise to the plundering of their natural resources by the American empire.
• The United States maintains and operates over 25 military installations in the Middle East region alone. The countries listed above who receive American weapons and training all host multiple American military installations. Over 40,000 American military personnel are currently stationed in the Middle East along with hundreds of military aircraft and naval vessels. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar is home to the US Central Command forward operating headquarters and houses over 10,000 US military personnel and over 100 military aircraft. The US Fifth Naval Fleet is headquartered in Bahrain.
• The countries in this region who do not fall in line with American economic and foreign policies are subjected to tremendous amounts of violence by the American empire. Since 2015 and the rise of Ansar Allah in Yemen, the country has been bombed over 25,000 times with American weapons. Ansar Allah is a revolutionary movement that, according to its leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, “is part of the Yemeni fabric who rejects corruption and … upholds values and freedom, rejects tyranny, guardianship, invasion and occupation and resists aggression, siege and blind subservience.” The American empire provided weapons and logistical support to Saudi Arabia in its war against Ansar Allah in Yemen from 2015 to 2022, during which over 30,000 US made bombs were dropped. When Ansar Allah began targeting Israeli related shipping vessels in the Red Sea in 2023 in opposition to the American genocide in Gaza, President Joe Biden authorized direct American strikes in Yemen.
• Between 12 January 2024 and 19 January 2025, the American empire conducted over 100 airstrikes against Ansar Allah in Yemen in a campaign named Operation Poseidon Archer. The campaign failed to stop Ansar Allah from targeting Israeli shipping in the Red Sea and on 15 March 2025, Donald Trump authorized Operation Rough Rider in an effort to escalate strikes against Ansar Allah. Between the dates of 15 March 2025 and 6 May 2025, the American Empire carried out 339 strikes (an additional strike was claimed by the UK in April), surpassing the number of strikes in the year-long US-UK Operation Poseidon Archer under President Biden. At least 238 civilians were killed including 24 children. A further 467 civilians were injured with 31 children amongst them, compared to the 12 months of US-led Operation Poseidon Archer, which killed 21 civilians – a civilian death toll matched by the Trump air war in the first 48 hours of bombing in March. A strike on the fuel storage facility at Ras Isa Port in April was one of the worst strikes for civilians on record. The death toll of 84 civilians killed including three children and 150 injured marked the strike as one of the worst for civilian harm on record.

• Along with committing numerous war crimes as outlined in the 1949 Geneva Conventions, the American empire spent over one billion American tax payer dollars in just 53 days during Operation Rough Rider. Seven American MQ-9 Reaper drones were shot down by Ansar Allah during the operation at a cost of $25 million dollars each, and three US Navy F/A-18 fighter aircraft were lost at sea costing 67 million dollars each. Nineteen MQ-9 Reaper drones have been shot down over Yemen since October 2023. To date, the American empire has failed to prevent Ansar Allah from militarily engaging Israeli interests in response to the Empire’s genocide in Gaza.

War on Iran–excerpts

• Iran is the largest and most powerful nation in the Middle East region to reject American subservience. Plans for regime change in Iran have been prevalent throughout American foreign policy since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 overthrew the monarchical government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, which was itself the result of an American backed coup in 1953. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003, both of which share borders with Iran, and the subsequent decades long American occupations of these countries, were largely efforts to destabilize the region and create the conditions for regime change in Iran. Indeed, the destabilization of the entire Middle East region has been a mainstay of American foreign policy, and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan played critical roles in furthering this end. This is evidenced by the December 2024 collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, a goal set out by the American empire in its original plans for the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
• On 13 June 2025, the American empire began direct military strikes on Iranian soil. During the twelve days of conflict, the American empire announced that in just the first three days, it had carried out over 720 airstrikes, targeting more than 60 locations in total. On the fifth day, the American empire claimed that three new waves of attacks struck at least 40 additional targets. While the official narrative of the American empire’s attacks on Iran centered on Iran’s nuclear program, the actual goal was regime change through targeted strikes on Iran’s leadership. The attacks, however, failed to disable Iran’s nuclear program and also did not result in the death of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian or Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. On June 24, 2025, the American empire agreed to a ceasefire largely due to Iran’s successful missile strikes on Israel and the sharp reduction of the American empire’s stockpile of missile and drone interceptor munitions.
• According to The Cradle.co website, the Pentagon is now seeking over $3.5 billion to replenish weapons and defense systems used to protect Israel, Bloomberg reported on 19 August 2025– citing budget documents. The documents, which were prepared through mid-May, indicate that the funds are meant for restocking interceptor missiles as well as other tasks including radar upkeep, refurbishing vessels, and transporting munitions. Every paragraph listing the items is tagged as an “emergency budget request.” The spending is described as necessary to make up for costs linked to the US Army’s responses to the “situation in Israel,” as well as operations “executed at the request of or in coordination with Israel for the defense of Israeli territory, personnel or assets during attacks by Iran [or its allies].” The request centers on missile interceptors fired since October 2023, including around $1 billion for RTX’s SM-3 systems, which US Navy destroyers used in April 2024 against Iranian strikes. Another $204 million is allocated for Lockheed Martin’s THAAD interceptors. The budget papers highlight growing costs for the US military presence in West Asia and rising concerns in Washington over the ability to replenish supplies while continuing to arm Israel. Since October 2023, Washington has burned through a significant number of interceptors in operations to defend Israel and confront Yemeni attacks in the Red Sea, according to a report by Responsible Statecraft. In October 2023, the US had approximately 9,100 SM‑2, 400 SM‑3, and 1,500 SM‑6 interceptor missiles in stockpile. It has used 268 SM-2s, 159 SM-3s, and 280 SM-6s since then, including during the June 2025 Iran–Israel war. According to an estimation, there has been a three percent depletion in SM-2 stockpiles, a 33 percent depletion in SM-3 stockpiles, and a 17 percent depletion of SM-6 stockpiles. Budget documents cited by The War Zone show that roughly 25 percent of all THAAD interceptors (over 150) funded to date were used to intercept Iranian missiles in June 2025. An October 2024 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report noted that the number of inceptors deployed since October 2023 cost Washington $1.8 billion. This could easily have been doubled by the end of June 2025, Responsible Statecraft noted.
• While a ceasefire was reached between Iran and the American empire in June of 2025, the next stage of the Empire’s regime change war in Iran is now being prepared. On 8 Aug 2025, Donald Trump signed a deal with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, establishing the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.” The deal will give the US a 99-year development lease on the Zangezur corridor located along Armenia’s southern border with northern Iran. This will allow the US to station forces directly on Iran’s northern border. The Zangezur corridor will likely be the staging ground for a future invasion of Iran by the American empire.
• Sistan – Balochistan Province – The Sistan – Balochistan province in south east Iran and south west Pakistan has become another front in the American empire’s regime change war on Iran. On 28 July of this year, Russia’s TASS news agency reported that Iran’s Intelligence Ministry had thwarted the infiltration of at least 450 foreign fighters during the intense military conflict with Israel in June. Intelligence officials identified 300 operatives near Iran’s southeastern border in Sistan – Balochistan, allegedly preparing for cross-border attacks. “During the recent 12-day standoff between Iran and Israel, Tehran noticed a tight-knit connection between Baloch separatists and Israel. Their sharing of intelligence with Tel Aviv led to significant human and infrastructure losses for Iran,” Mahsud explains. The American empire is now funneling weapons and funds to these separatist groups in the Sistan – Balochistan province in hopes that they will be an asset in the future American invasion of Iran.

• The collective aggression of the American empire against any resistance to American subservience in the Middle East, to include Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq’s PMU units, and Ansar Allah in Yemen, is an attempt to use the Oct. 7th raid on Israel as a pretext to shape a new Middle East region without independent regimes and excluding major rivals to the American empire. The genocide of Gaza will be used to transform Gaza into an economic trading hub for the American empire’s pre-planned IMEC corridor (India – Middle East – Europe Economic Corridor), an economic trade route that is meant to connect India to Europe through Saudi Arabia and Israel. The IMEC corridor itself is meant to counter the rising multi-polar world order by specifically competing with China’s Belt and Road initiative. As the multi-polar world order flourishes and more countries seek to throw off the yoke of subservience to American empire, the American empire will grow more violent in its efforts to hold on to power in the regions it already controls, such as the Middle East, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere to include the United States itself.
• In the next issue of the Midwest Weapons Report, the American empire’s occupation of American urban areas through the National Guard will be examined, as well as the recent deployment of violent American forces to overthrow the government in Venezuela.  

—Christopher Overfelt, a member of the PeaceWorks KC Board and of Veterans for Peace, served in the Air Force National Guard in Topeka, KS, from 2002 to 2011 as an aircraft hydraulics mechanic. He deployed to Turkey and Qatar in 2009 in support of Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. ©2025, Christopher Overfelt, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.

Source