The U.S. Army is considering equipping the Iraqi Army’s M1A1 tanks with upgrades to provide greater protection from land mines and roadside bombs and to add rotating, remotely operated machine guns to attack snipers.

Upgrades to the tanks built by General Dynamics Corp. (GD) also could include belly armor; lightweight reactive armor tiles; improved night-vision sensors made by Waltham, Massachusetts-based Raytheon Co. (RTN) to provide 360-degree, all-weather views; and mine-clearing blades and rollers, according to an Army survey released in November.

A “counter sniper/anti-material gun mount,” for example, also would contain wide-area spotlights to detect roadside or suicide-bomb vehicles.

Islamic State extremists have captured Iraqi army tanks and anti-armor weapons not made in the U.S., and its fighters are using roadside bombs in northern Iraq to slow Iraqi attacks. Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi last month asked outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel for additional heavy weapons and air support to defeat Islamic State.

If the improvements are approved by Congress and funded by the Iraqi government, they could be made within 18 month after the first U.S. contractors arrive to install them, Ashley Givens, a U.S. Army spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

“There is currently no sole-source request for General Dynamics to provide these items or services, so unless Iraq submits a sole-source request, the effort will be” open for competing bids, she said.

The Iraqi army has 140 tanks, with an additional six scheduled for delivery by Dec. 31, she said.