US confirms $60bn plan to sell Saudi Arabia arms

[Rahul92]

US officials have confirmed they intend to sell $60bn (£38bn) of arms to Saudi Arabia, including helicopters and jets.

The state department said details of the deal had been sent to Congress, which now has 30 days to object.

If completed, it could be the most lucrative single arms deal in US history and could support 75,000 jobs.

The state department said Israel, traditionally wary of arms deals involving Arab states, was not expected to raise objections.
'Strong message'

Announcing the plan, state department official Andrew Shapiro said it had a "tremendous significance from a strategic regional perspective".

"It will send a strong message to countries in the region that we are committed to support the security of our key partners and allies in the Arabian Gulf and broader Middle East," he said.

Analysts say the sale - which includes more than 80 F-15 fighters, and dozens of Apache, Black Hawk and Little Bird helicopters - is unlikely to face much opposition in Congress.

The plan was leaked last month, when officials were quoted as saying anti-radar missiles, precision-guided bombs, and Hellfire missiles would also be included.

But officials did not mention the missiles during Wednesday's news conference.

The Pentagon said the Saudis were expected to initially select about $30bn worth of aircraft. Delivery of the weapons is expected to be spread over 15 to 20 years.

Saudi Arabia is one of the top buyers of weapons in the developing world


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11587348

 

[maomao]

^^^^^ Why is Saudi Arabia buying so many weapons? They already have US Nuclear Umbrella protecting them from Iran!!

Mostlikely, its payback time for Saudis to further bail out Mallek USA economically.

 

[SHASH2K2]

^^^^^ Why is Saudi Arabia buying so many weapons? They already have US Nuclear Umbrella protecting them from Iran!!

Mostlikely, its payback time for Saudis to further bail out Mallek USA economically.

Sausi Arabia is not trying to buy so many weapons. USA is trying to sell it to them. USA needs as much money as possible to come out of recession and there is nothing better and profitable than selling weapons. Weapons took them out of great recession and they will do it again for them. Thats the reason why USA is selling to almost everything and to almost everybody. they are selling it to India to contain China and SA to contain Iran .

 

[Rahul92]

well the for future sustainability Saudi needs them

 

[maomao]

well the for future sustainability Saudi needs them

Future sustainability? Please elaborate?

 

[maomao]

According to me there could be two causes:

1) Economic as we all know............

2) US could be arming KSA to take on Iran in any future conflicts, as we all know Israel cannot be used against Shia Iran, as Iran has created a very Anti-Israel posture in the Islamic world by arming and funding Hezbollah, hence KSA will be the spearhead. Furthermore, these days if a muslim is killed by a non-muslim (at-least in middle east) its an International Outrage (eg. Fortilla Marmara), however if a muslim massacres fellow muslim it goes unheard or brushed under the rug by islamic world (e.g Jordan has Killed more Palestinians than Israel in a few days time than Israel has killed till date, it is said Pakistani Airforce has bombed and killed more Palestinians (for Joradan) than Israel itself, but no one blames Jordan, Egypt or the "land of the pure", only Israel is demonized). Clearly, best strategy for tommyboi would be to pit a muslim nation against Iran (Iraq has been decimated and is under Shia Rule), so the ultimate option lies with Shia-hating Saudi Arabia, who would love Israel to Nuke Iran, but thats not happening it seems, therefore KSA would be asked to do this job itself.

 

[nitesh]

The saudi deal looks big,as this includes maintainence prices which will include army of contractors living there and supporting those products

 

[LETHALFORCE]

^^^^^ Why is Saudi Arabia buying so many weapons? They already have US Nuclear Umbrella protecting them from Iran!!

Mostlikely, its payback time for Saudis to further bail out Mallek USA economically.

Saudis are not going to get the nuclear umbrella for free. Look at all the nations in USA's nuclear umbrella they are exclusively US weapon buyers;Japan, S.korea, Taiwan, Israel and many NATO nations.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

To me it comes across as a three prolong strategy on part of the US.

Do a balancing act between Israel and the KSA:

• Israel is being moved up the ladder in terms of technology with 5G fighter aircrafts, top of the line radars, missile defence systems etc, and same is going to be the case with other military hardware where Israel will be provided with stuff that is generation ahead to what is made available to the arabs.

• Provide the KSA with stuff that is second to what Israel is offered which makes sure the military superiority remains with Israel but this keeps the Saudis satisfied that the stuff being provided is way ahead to what they already have in their inventory so far, quell their fear that militarily the gap between Israel and the KSA is being widened (continue the status quo), the Saudis on their part understand that the quality being provided to them remains unmatched to what some other supplier can possibly provide them and this also assures them the military cover provided to them by the Americans remains intact also the much needed diplomatic support.

Iran's outburst and to keep Saudi royal family strong from within and in the region:

• Iran has threatened that it will knock off all the US military bases around its vicinity if it were to be attacked by either the US or Israel or by both which makes the KSA a perfect target and this move is sure an attempt to preempt any such move by the Iranians.

• Let us also not forget there remains a fight for leadership in mid-east that gets played between iran and the KSA with turkey as the late comer to the party, historically all three have fought for that role of leadership.
  If iran gets to play the leadership role then that will lead a bad precedence since that will inspire more and more people of the region to go for iran style Islamic revolution. Till the time shah was there in iran, the US used to feed both the KSA and iran since both used to toe the US line and that would balance them out but post the revolution in iran that has changed for that has brought about a huge surge in anti-US sentiments in iran and all that gets played out in national politics of iran, a repetition of which in the region is hugely detrimental to the US interests because each such revolution will only guarantee further surge in such sentiments since to a great extent the populace of mid east/musilm world at large share such sentiments for the US even today.
  It is only the royal families that remain loyal in the region since they also understand that is it the US which can make sure their rule goes unchallenged from within and outside. So all in all it remains in US's interest to have a strong KSA from within and outside and a regional leader as is the case today.

Keep the Chinese and the Russians out:

• The real challenge is the PRC since Russia has over the years outlived whatever challenge they could have offered and with the changing world order the Saudi royal family is looking at new emerging players to make sure their interests are sustained in times to come. This has made the Saudis open to the Chinese for quite some time now and the Indians off late but more so to the Chinese since clearly they are way ahead of us in all spheres of influence (military, diplomatic, economic, strategic, etc). China has a clear global ambition and it is looking to build on allies across the globe, and this is making the Americans suspicious and cautious if not nervous and with this deal the attempt is also to make sure atleast militarily Chinese are not able to significantly dent the Saudi market and through that be able to make inroads on other fronts.