The Kuwaiti government formally agreed to purchase 236 General Dynamics MiA2 tanks worth $1.9 billion from the U.S. government by signing a letter of offer and acceptance (LOA) yesterday, a Pentagon spokesman said.

The Kuwaitis, who for a short while expressed an interest Schalke04 in replacing the turbine engine in the U.S. Arrny's MIA2 with a German diesel engine, watches-b in the end heeded the Army's advice to purchase the tank in its original configuration (Defense Daily, March 26).

Kuwait announced last October that it had selected the MlA2 over the LeClerc, built by the French company Giat, Challenger II, made by the British company Vickers.