The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has indicated an intention to issue tenders for two contracts designed to reinforce Kuwait’s air defence facilities.

The first contract is for the construction of two complete air defence sites and one central information coordination building, while the second contract is for operation and maintenance (O&M) services, which could potentially last three years.

The presolicitation notice was published on the Federal Bureau Opportunities (FBO) website on 19 April. The FBO specified that the location of the two sites is “near the Kuwait Air defence Headquarters.”

Draft plan and drawings attached to the notice show that one of the facilities will be located at the Ahmed al-Jaber Air Base and the other will be located at the Ali al-Salem Air Base. The retrofit work will be for the Air Operations Centre in the Wista area south of Kuwait city.

The drawings also seem to indicate that the new air bases “will be very similar to Kuwait’s five existing Patriot fire bases,” noted defence and security intelligence provider IHS. Like the existing fire bases, the facilities are planned to have five pads for launchers, a raised area for the radar, an engagement control station, a communications tower and various support structures.

The main difference, IHS cited, will be that the new launcher pads “will be oriented towards Iran rather than towards Iraq like the ones that were built in the 1990s.”

The O&M services work will include, but not limited to, preventive and routine maintenance, repair, and changing spare parts for these facilities to ensure equipment is functional and operative.

The presolicitation notice also indicated that the project budget falls within the range of $25m to $100m and will be awarded to a prime construction contractor that has a license to conduct business in Kuwait.

The solicitation is scheduled for release on or about 15 May and proposals are to falll due due on or about 30 June. Contract award is expected on or about 15 August 15.

Like most the of GCC states, Kuwait has been building its defence capacity over the past year.

It signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the supply of 22 single-seater and six double-seater Eurofighter jets with the consortium that produce the aircraft in September 2015. The deal, understood to extend over a 20-year period with a value estimated at $9bn will include maintenance services.