Saudi-Arabia Military Developments

youngindian

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08.07.09 09:00

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 7 /Trend News, U.Sadikhova, R.Hafizoglu/

Improvement of the Syria-Saudi Arabi relations will have a positive impact on forming the government in Lebanon, as well as lead to a truce between the pro-Western and pro-Syrian political forces in Beirut.

"Lebanon in a regional position is under influence of the two major forces, including Syria and Saudi Arabia," Head of the Lebanese Strategic Studies Mohammed Nureddin told Trend News in a telephone conversation from Beirut. "The ruling circles in Lebanon know that the situation in the country will remain unstable without agreement between the Syrians and Saudis.

Syrian President Bashshar al-Assad held talks with senior Saudi emissary - the son of King Abdullah, Prince Abdul Aziz in Damascus last week, the Syrian SANA agency reported. The prince was accompanied by former Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Lebanon Abdul Aziz Khoja, who now is the Culture and Information Minister of the Kingdom.

Al-Hariri who won the parliamentary elections in June said that forming a new cabinet "will take time, and the new composition should be submitted soon. In Beirut, people believe that al-Hariri, who has close ties with the royal courts of Saudi Arabia awaits the outcome of the Syria-Riyadh negotiations, the Lebanese media reported.

Analysts do not exclude that he will establish relations with Damascus, basing on the results of the Saudi-Syrian negotiations.

On Thursday, after returning from a one-day visit from Riyadh, Al-Hariri said that he is ready to establish relations with Syria.

Parliamentarian of Al-Hariri's movement Al-Mustaqbal Nohad Mashnuk said in an interview with Lebanese television that "Prime Minister al-Hariri wants to establish relations with Syria, because the two countries [Lebanon and Syria] can not live in a state of enmity", Al-Mustaqbal Web site reported.

Relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia have deteriorated after accusing Damascu of Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri's murder in 2005, who was Saudis' close ally in the region and former Saudi businessman.

Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon, which were in the country 30 years under pressure of the UN Security Council and Arab countries, under the chairmanship of Saudi Arabia.

Damascus is also accused of inciting clashes between supporters of al-Hariri and pro-Syrian party Hezbollah in 2005 and 2008.

At the meeting with the French President's Secretary General Claude Gueant and Nicolas Sarkozy's advisor on diplomatic issues Jean David Levitte, al-Assad said that he would be happy to see Saad al-Hariri at the planned Damascus summit of the leaders of Syria, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, RIA Novosti reported. Eaxtc date of the summit has not yet been fixed, but it is expected to take place on July 16. Al-Hariri is expected to take part in the summit together with President Michel Suleiman.

Nureddin believes that Saudi Arabia's decision to improve relations with Syria aimed at strengthening al-Hariri's future government. Nureddin believes that the future cabinet will not be stable, if confrontation with Syria continues.

"Saudi Arabia does not want al-Hariri to lead a weak government, and opposition to [March 8] to create serious problems," Nureddin said.

He added that Riyadh aims to facilitate al-Hariri's future governance and assist him in building a strong and secure state, which can not be achieved without an agreement with Syria.

In Beirut, people also believe that if the Saudi and Syrian interests in Lebanon are maintained, then the Hezbollah party will not boycott al-Hariri's future cabinet.

The bilateral agreement will help Saudi Arabia to maintain the economic interests in Lebanon and the impact on domestic policy through al-Hariri's party. At the same time, Syria will be able to maintain the Hezbollah force to confront the Israeli attacks, Member of the Al-Mustaqbal movement Tagiddin Suleiman told Trend News in a telephone conversation from Beirut.

He added that despite the pressure of Egypt and the United States on Saudi Arabia to end talks with Syria, it would not affect forming a government in Lebanon and preserving the parties' interests in the country.

The United States and Egypt do not want to see Syria as ally of Saudi Arabia because of its interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon and the Palestinian problem, he added.

"The forces, acting under pressure from Egypt and the United States, comprises minority [in Lebanon], so it does not become a problem for the agreement of Syria and Saudi Arabia," Tagiddin said.

Nureddin also believes that Saudi Arabia is now more interested in the stability of al-Hariri's government, which can not be achieved without the agreement with Syria and its allies.

"Saudi Arabia will prefer to hinder al-Hariri to head the government, rather than to form a cabinet without an agreement with Syria and the opposition," Nureddin said, adding that al-Hariri's unilateral government will lead the country towards political and economic chaos.

"This is beneficial neither for al-Hariri, who wants to create a new system in Lebanon, nor Saudi Arabia's interests in the country," he added.

Syria may demand the high price from rapprochement with Saudi Arabia in order not to block the formation of al-Hariri's new government - return influence to Lebanon when it was before withdrawal of troops from this country, Analyst on Lebanese Policy Nadim Shehadi believes.

"Syria may demand to return previous influence to Lebanon, when it had opportunity to block the government," Member of the British Chatham House Royal Institute of International Affairs Shehadi told Trend News in a telephone conversation from London.


Trend News : Syrian-Saudi truce to help Lebanon to form gov't
 

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Saudi Arabia issues rulings in first terror trial

Saudi Arabia issues rulings in first terror trial
8 Jul 2009, 1849 hrs IST, AP



RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi government TV says a court has issued verdicts in the kingdom's first known terrorism trial for accused al-Qaida militants.

The kingdom has pursued an aggressive campaign against militants since May 2003, when they first began attacks in the kingdom.

But legal proceedings in this case did not start until last year. Interior minister Prince Nayef announced then that 991 suspected militants had been charged with participating in terrorist attacks over the past five years.

It was not clear before Wednesday's announcement that the trials had began.

Al-Ekhbariya TV said the defendants were accused of belonging to al-Qaida and supporting terrorism. It did not give details on the verdicts. The defendants can appeal

Saudi Arabia issues rulings in first terror trial - Middle East - World - The Times of India
 

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One death penalty in first Saudi "terror" trials
Wed Jul 8, 2009 12:48pm EDT
By Souhail Karam

RIYADH (Reuters) - A Saudi court has sentenced one person to death in the first publicly reported sentences since al Qaeda-linked militants launched a violent campaign in 2003 to destabilize the government of the world's top oil exporter.

All preliminary rulings can be appealed and authorities plan to allow media to cover the appeal trials of militants involved in "terrorism and state security" violations, a justice ministry official told Reuters on Wednesday.

"The Specialist Penal Court in the kingdom has recently issued several preliminary rulings in cases involving people arrested for terrorism and state security crimes," the official news agency reported, citing a court spokesman.

State television said the rulings involved 330 suspects in 179 cases but did not give a breakdown of the sentences. An unspecified number of them were acquitted, it added.

The justice ministry official said the rulings included one death penalty. He declined to identify the person or give details about the crime. Other penalties included jail terms, house arrest, fines and travel bans, he said.

The official news agency said the trials involved "membership of a deviant group of people and involvement in their activities and supporting and financing of terrorism."

Officials often use "deviant group" as a reference to members of radical Islamic groups including al Qaeda.

Some of the rulings have been appealed, the agency added without giving more details.

Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz said in October that the kingdom has indicted 991 mainly Saudi suspected al Qaeda militants for carrying out 30 attacks since 2003.

The kingdom has said those killed in the attacks included 74 members of the security forces and 90 civilians including foreign residents. The number of militants killed during the militant campaign has not been disclosed.

The accused include some clerics -- Nasser al-Fahd, Ali al-Khodeir and Faris al-Shuweil -- who had publicly backed the militants. Fahd and Khodeir appeared on Saudi state television after their arrests in 2003 to call for an end to the bloodshed.

The group called Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula began a campaign to destabilize the U.S.-allied government in 2003 but the violence was brought to a halt by security forces in cooperation with foreign experts.

Militant attacks included suicide bombs at housing compounds in Riyadh in 2003 and an attempt to storm the world's biggest oil processing plant at Abqaiq in 2006, the last militant operation of note.

Human Rights Watch has said the trials may not meet international standards and that between 2,000 and 3,000 people were still detained without charge, after 1,500 were released without trial through "re-education" programs.

Authorities have arrested hundreds of suspects over the last two years on suspicion of trying to revive militant cells.

(Additional reporting by Inal Ersan; Editing by Louise Ireland)

One death penalty in first Saudi terror trials | International | Reuters
 

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Saudi Arabia arrests 44 suspected militants

Saudi Arabia arrests 44 suspected militants
AP 19 August 2009, 09:00pm IST


RIYADH: Saudi authorities arrested 44 suspected militants with al-Qaida links in a yearlong sweep that also uncovered dozens of machine guns and
electronic circuits for bombs, the government said Wednesday.

Thirty members of the group hold advanced university degrees, mostly in the field of science, and some have received training in the kingdom and abroad on preparing explosives, forging travel documents and using light and heavy weapons, said the Interior Ministry.

The ministry's spokesman, Mansour al-Turki, told The Associated Press that the suspected militants sought to set up cells ``that would carry out their goals without their direct involvement.''

``They're like an engine that manipulates others while working in the shadows,'' he said.

Some of those arrested had ``tight links'' with al-Qaida's foreign-based leadership, said an Interior Ministry statement, using the government's standard euphemism describing the terrorist organization as ``the deviant group.''

The suspected militants, all but one of whom are from Saudi Arabia, sought to recruit youths and finance their activities through charitable donations, said the statement, which was carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. The group was arrested in a campaign that began more than a year ago and ended Aug. 2.

During that time, authorities seized more than 60 machine-guns and large amounts of ammunition, some buried in the backyard of one of the arrested suspects, said the statement. They also found 96 electronics circuits that work as switches to ignite explosives remotely, it said.

Saudi Arabia has pursued an aggressive campaign against militants since May 2003, when they first began attacks in the kingdom. The country is the birthplace of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and home to 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers.

Last month, Saudi officials announced that a Saudi criminal court has convicted and sentenced 330 al-Qaida militants to jail terms, fines and travel bans in the country's first known trials for suspected members of the terror group.

The 330 are believed to be among the 991 suspected militants that Interior Minister Prince Nayef has said have been charged with participating in terrorist attacks over the past five years.

Saudi Arabia arrests 44 suspected militants - Middle East - World - NEWS - The Times of India
 

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Military and political developments from saudi-arabia

all saudi arabia news goes here
 

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Saudis alarmed at mounting Yemen crisis

Aug. 27, 2009

SANAA, Yemen, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- As fighting escalates in Yemen between the army and Shiite rebels in the northwestern mountains along the border with Saudi Arabia, Riyadh is becoming increasingly alarmed that Iran is arming the insurgents and that its unruly southern neighbor is in danger of sliding out of control.

The Saudis fear that the Yemeni government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh will be overwhelmed by the 5-year-old rebellion and other crises gripping the impoverished Arab state that lies at the southwestern tip of the Arabian peninsula.

The rebellion is centered on Saada province, which borders Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil producer, but is spreading southward.

The Shiite tribesmen, followers of the Zaidi sect, want to revive the Islamic imamate that ruled for 1,000 years before being toppled by Sunnis in 1962.

The Sanaa government also has to grapple with a new push for secession among southern socialists, who triggered a two-month civil war in 1994 in an abortive secession bid, and a resurgence of al-Qaida, which seeks to reignite a jihadist insurgency in Saudi Arabia.

On top of all this, Yemen is in the grip of a 4-year-old drought. Its water resources, like its scanty oil reserves, are diminishing while its population swells at an explosive rate. The economy is facing collapse.

"The events in Yemen are a matter of concern," Osama al-Nuggali, chief spokesman for the Saudi Foreign Ministry, said Aug. 18. "Yemen's security and stability are important to the region and to neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia."

The rebellion broke out in 2004. The Yemeni government, whose authority extends little beyond the capital and some cities, responded with military operations. Fighting invariably died out without any clear resolution, only to flare up again.

The latest bout of fighting, the sixth, erupted Aug. 11 after a one-year cease-fire collapsed and Saleh launched an all-out offensive with the army's best troops with armor and artillery in a bid to crush the rebels once and for all.

Yemen claims that Shiite Iran is arming the northern rebels. The army claims to have uncovered caches of Iranian-made weapons, including short-range missiles and machine guns, in the recent fighting.

Iran denies it is aiding the Shiite tribesmen. But Tehran has a history of aiding militants across the region. These include the Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon and Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

The Zaidi tribes claim the Sanaa government is dominated by hard-line Sunnis who follow the conservative Wahhabi branch of Islam led by the Saudis and which considers Shiites to be heretics. The rebels also oppose Saleh's alliance with the United States.

The Saudis fear that the Zaidi rebellion will enflame their own restive Shiite minority, who dominate the kingdom's eastern provinces where its oil industry is centered.

The Saudis succeeded in crushing a jihadist insurgency in 2003-07 and are concerned that al-Qaida fighters gathered in Yemen, who in an ominous move recently rebranded themselves as al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula, will exploit the worsening chaos to rekindle jihad in the kingdom.

The Yemeni rebels claim that Saudi Arabia has sent its air force to support Saleh's offensive, codenamed Operation Scorched Earth.

The Saudis acknowledge only that they are "consulting" with Sanaa on the escalating battle. Yemeni officials deny any joint operations with the Saudis.

But given the Yemeni government's repeated failure to crush the rebels since they rose up in late 2004, Riyadh may yet have to take more direct action to prevent Saleh's regime foundering.

The United States, sparring with Iran for primacy in the region, is also showing concern at developments in Yemen, its ally in the war against the jihadists.

On a wider canvas, the crisis in Yemen is taking place amid signs that the Red Sea and Horn of Africa region, where jihadist forces are also in action, is becoming a new arena of confrontation between Israel and Iran alongside the Levant and the Palestinian territories.

Yemen is strategically located overlooking the chokepoint Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, a key shipping and oil tanker route between the Arabian Sea and the Mediterranean.

There have been unconfirmed reports that Egypt, which claimed in April it broke up a network of Iranian-backed Hezbollah agents seeking to attack the Suez Canal, is shipping ammunition to the hard-pressed Yemen military by air and sea -- with U.S. approval.

Saudis alarmed at mounting Yemen crisis - UPI.com
 

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Saudis Eye Buying 72 F-15s ?

Saudi Arabia is close to placing an order for as many as 72 Boeing F-15 fighter jets, industry and defense sources tell us. Growing security concerns over Gulf neighbor and perennial troublemaker Iran are pushing the Saudis to upgrade their air fleet with a particular emphasis on precision strike aircraft.


The Pentagon is expected to approve the sale as it seeks to counter Iran’s recent break-out as a regional power and quell nervousness among Gulf Arab states troubled by Iran’s growing stockpile of increasingly accurate and long-range ballistic missiles. Foreign military sales are managed through the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency. DSCA did not respond to an emailed request for information.


The F-15 order would come on top of Riyadh’s purchase of 72 Eurofighter Typhoons in 2006, the first of which are just now being delivered to the Gulf kingdom. The Saudis currently operate around 71 two-seat F-15Ss, a variant of the F-15E Strike Eagle with downgraded avionics, Hughes APG-70 radar and LANTIRN targeting pod. They also operate 66 single-seat F-15Cs and 18 two-seat F-15Ds air-superiority fighters, according to figures compiled by CSIS’s Anthony Cordesman.


I spoke with Boeing’s Patricia Frost, and while she wouldn’t comment specifically about a potential Saudi F-15 buy, she did say Riyadh, along with other potential international customers, has expressed interest in the recently unveiled F-15 “Silent Eagle” variant. A modified F-15E, the Silent Eagle includes radar absorbent materials added to leading edges, canted vertical stabilizers that reduce side radar returns, and weapons carried internally in conformal fuel tanks. The modifications provide some reductions in both the aircraft’s head-on radar signature and also some improvement against air-defenses, she said.


DoD Buzz friend Stephen Trimble has a good write up on the Silent Eagle available here. A flight test demonstration of the Silent Eagle variant is scheduled for early next year, Frost said.


Last year, Riyadh requested 900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) tail kits, another Boeing product, to convert “dumb” iron bombs into “smart” bombs. The JDAMs were to be carried by the Royal Saudi Air Force F-15S strike jets. The sale got hung up momentarily by Congress, as large weapons sales to Arab states often do, but ultimately went through.


I asked Travis Sharp, a military analyst at The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, in Washington, DC, about the likelihood that Congress would interfere with a Saudi order for more F-15s. It was very unlikely, he said. The last time Congress really tried to block a major arms sale was the Saudi AWACS deal back in the 1980s, and even that sale eventually went through.

ASIAN DEFENCE: September 2009
 

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Saudi Arabia's political clout in Pakistan

AMIDST the clamour in Pakistan to put the former president Pervez Musharraf on trial for his many unconstitutional acts, one of his advisers Mushahid Hussain declared that 'just one phone call from Saudi Arabia will stop all the non-sense' about sending the General to the prison house.


Hussain is a former editor who morphed himself into a politico and served many masters including Nawaz Sharif. Hussain has not lost any of his reputation for utter clarity (bordering on the cynical) and the capacity to cut through a complex debate.

The House of Saud has not yet dialled Islamabad. It has done one better. It has summoned all the top figures of Pakistan to discuss the latest political crisis. Among those who serenaded themselves in Riyadh last week were Rehman Malik, a close adviser to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Gen. Musharraf himself. Sharif heads for Saudi Arabia this week.


The latest crisis follows Sharif's campaign to have Gen. Musharraf tried and sent to prison. Sharif wants revenge for Musharraf's coup against him in October 1999. Zardari, who is in power because of a deal between his late wife Benazir and Musharraf, has no reason to ask the judiciary to revisit that mutually beneficial understanding. We don't know where the current Army Chief, Gen Ashfaq Kayani, stands. Will he protect his predecessor or hang him?


It is into this minefield that Saudi Arabia has boldly stepped into.

This is certainly not the first time. In the last two decades, Saudi power in Islamabad has grown enormously. More than the US President, it is the Saudi King who is now the real arbiter of Pakistan's domestic politics.


After Musharraf's coup against Sharif, the Saudis got the former prime minister out of prison and gave him political asylum. When Sharif broke his promise not to play politics and landed in Pakistan, the Saudis lifted him right back from the airport tarmac. When the US was brokering a deal between Musharraf and Benazir, the Saudis put Sharif back in play against the wishes of President George Bush and Musharraf. That Saudi Arabia can exercise such influence in a country of more than 160 million people with a powerful army equipped with nuclear weapons should tell us two things about Pakistan.


One. For all the shared history and culture, the Pakistani state is very unlike ours. As a 'frontier state' (some Pakistani liberals might call it a 'rentier state'), Pakistan is organised on a different set of rules. In a frontier state, there is no separation between the internal and the external. The frontier and rentier states deal with external benefactors with a kind of ease that normal states can never imagine. They don't define national sovereignty in opposition to the external world.

Two. If the House of Saud is now an integral part of Pakistani politics, it makes sense for Delhi to treat Riyadh as a neighbour and engage it intensively and on a strategic basis.


(C. Raja Mohan is currently the Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Affairs at the Library of Congress, Washington DC).

IntelliBriefs
 

youngindian

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General Dynamics wins $7m Saudi tank deal

27/09/09

General Dynamics Land Systems has won a $7 million contract to continue to design the new Saudi M1A2 (M1A2S) Abrams tank for Saudi Arabia.

The Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract for design logistics was awarded by the US Army Tacom Lifecycle Management Command for the Royal Saudi Land Forces. General Dynamics Land Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics.

This contract is an addition to a $58 million contract awarded to General Dynamics in 2008 to design, develop, convert, implement and test a hybrid configuration of the M1A1, M1A2 and M1A2 System Enhancement Package (SEP) tank variants. The M1A2S vehicles will possess defined capabilities that increase lethality while limiting obsolescence. The work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

General Dynamics employs approximately 92,000 people worldwide. The company is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies.-TradeArabia News Service

Trade Arabia - Middle East & GCC Business Information | Trade News Portal
 

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Saudi Arabia not to allow use of its airspace against Iran

Jerusalem: Saudi Arabia has refuted the report that the Israeli and British intelligence heads met with its officials, who agreed to allow the Jewish state to use their airspace to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.


British newspaper Sunday Express had reported that Saudi officials had recently met British Intelligence chief and Israel's Mossad chief Meir Dagan in London and given consent to Israeli Air Force jets for using their airspace in such an event.

As per the report, it was also agreed that Saudi Arabia would turn a 'blind eye' to Israel's use of its airspace during a strike.

The Saudi Press Agency today quoted a source from royal family as saying that the report is untrue and asked the Iranian media to refrain from publishing such stories for the sake of journalistic credibility, Israel Radio reported.

Israel, which has dubbed the Iranian nuclear programme an "existential threat", has been emphasising that Tehran's nuclear ambitions not only bothers the Jewish state but several Arab states are equally worried, though not willing to publicly admit it.

Meanwhile, the head of Iran's nuclear energy agency yesterday said that his country would not discuss issues related to its nuclear "rights" at its meeting with six world powers scheduled to take place tomorrow.
 

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WASS, Thales sign contract with UAE for supply of anti submarine warfare

Mon, Oct 12, 2009

Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei (WASS) and Thales are pleased to announce the signature of a contract with the UAE GHQ Armed Forces for the supply of an Anti-Submarine-Warfare (ASW) suite to the UAE Navy.

Under the terms of the contract, the WASS / Thales / Eurotorp team will provide a comprehensive ASW system composed of a sonar suite with its underwater communication telephone, torpedo decoy launching systems and light weight torpedo launching system. All the systems will be provided to the UAE Navy and installed on the “Abu Dhabi” class corvette by Fincantieri.

“The UAE Navy will benefit from a state-of-the-art ASW capability. The increasing success of our anti torpedo countermeasure system proves the need of acquiring a highly performing self defence capability against the new generation of torpedoes in the market today. Moreover, due to its modularity, such an ASW System will significantly enhance the ASW capabilities of different Navies with similar needs”, commented Filippo D’Antoni, WASS Commercial Director.

Thales, as a subcontractor to WASS, will provide the sonar suite including the hull mounted Kingklip sonar and its low frequency active variable depth sonar, the Captas Nano.

“At Thales we are particularly proud of this contract award. Drawing on the many successes of the well-known CAPTAS product family, this CAPTAS NANO contract highlights the relevance of our approach to move towards compact sonar systems that are perfectly suited for mid-size platforms”, said Marc Darmon, Senior Vice President of Thales and Head of Naval Division.

WASS, Thales sign contract with UAE for supply of anti submarine warfare : Defenseworld.net
 

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Royal Saudi Air Force awards Typhoon fighter support contract to BAE Systems

Tue, Oct 13, 2009

The Royal Saudi Air Force has commenced flying operations following the delivery of the first 4 of 72 Typhoon aircraft to the Royal Saudi Air Force. To support this, the Governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom have reached agreement on detailed arrangements under the Salam Support Solution that will provide support foroperations by the Royal Saudi Air Force Typhoon fleet for a three year period. These arrangements will be operated through a full availability service contract with BAE Systems, the first of its kind for Typhoon. They are in accordance with the Understanding Document signed by both Governments on 21 December 2005.

The contract includes training in the United Kingdom for RSAF Typhoon pilots and Typhoon multi-skilled aircraft technicians.

David Rennison, vice president Salam for BAE Systems in Saudi Arabia, said: “Congratulations to the Royal Saudi Air Force – it has joined an elite club and is now the 5th Air Force in the world to be flying Tranche 2 Typhoons. This agreement is ground breaking and will form an integral and vital part of the long term Salam programme. I am delighted to see the RSAF flying the aircraft in Saudi Arabia”.

Cliff Robson, Deputy Managing Director, Typhoon, added: “The Salam Support Solution builds on BAE Systems’ knowledge and experience gained working alongside the RAF in supporting the UK’s Typhoon fleet. This will provide the Royal Saudi Air Force with the necessary support as the Typhoon transitions from entry-into-service to full operation”.

http://www.defenseworld.net/go/defe...phoon fighter support contract to BAE Systems
 

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Saudi Arabia and UAE will not be able to alienate China from Iran: expert

22.10.2009

Despite that the oil-rich Persian Gulf countries are interested in strengthening sanctions against Iran for suspending its nuclear program and attempts of these countries to alienate official Beijing from Tehran by increasing oil exports to China from these countries do not reflect the real situation.

As the Wall Street Journal reported on 20 October, U.S. officials have persuaded the United Arab Emirates to export to China 150,000 to 200,000 additional barrels of oil per day and Saudi Arabia to also boost oil exports to China.

This step of the U.S. aims to reduce oil imports into China from Iran, but how this plan can be a reality remains question, Raymond Tanter, former senior staffer of the National Security Council, told Trend News.

Currently Iran exports 540,000 barrels of oil to China per day.

The additional exports are meant to offset Chinese fears of losing oil imports from Iran if China joins Western powers in implementing crippling sanctions on Tehran, Tanter, President of Iran Policy Committee at University of Michigan, said.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have a strong interest in ensuring that Iran does not become a nuclear weapons state and in curtailing the Iranian regime's negative influence in the Persian Gulf, he said.

Considering that Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates are members of OPEC, these countries can face with problems in increasing oil production, since a certain limit in oil exports has been established for OPEC member countries.

According to Tanter, Saudi Arabia, because of its enormous reserves has traditionally had an interest in long term price stability at the expense of short term export surges. In this respect, Saudi Arabia is one of the most conservative OPEC members in terms of keeping quotas low, while smaller, cash-strapped OPEC members lobby for increased short term production.

"It is likely that any enhanced exports to China will be nominal rather than decisive," American expert said.

According to him, China also has tens of billions of long term investment dollars in Iran's energy sector, which represent an enormous opportunity cost irrespective of Beijing's short-term need for Iranian crude oil.

According to the expert, even if Saudi Arabia and the UAE could ensure a steady supply of crude to China absent Iranian exports, Beijing would still have to weigh the cost of forgoing such investments to participate in sanctioning the Iranian regime.

Six superpowers of the world - members of the UN Security Council have adopted five resolutions against Iran in order to suspend country's nuclear program. Three of them envisage sanctions against Iran. Also, in addition to UN Security Council resolutions, the U.S. and some EU countries introduced even broader sanctions against Tehran.

http://en.trend.az/news/nuclearp/1564033.html
 

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Saudis may buy ‘sub-killer’ planes

Ivan Gale


Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in buying six P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from Boeing worth a reported US$1.3 billion (Dh4.8bn), the US aerospace firm says.

The plans for the P-8, which releases sonar buoys to identify submarines and destroys them by dropping torpedoes, are part of a wider naval modernisation programme reportedly worth as much as $20bn.

“They took the steps to say to the US Navy that they are interested,” Ray Figueras, the director of strategic development for the P-8 Poseidon at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS), said of the Saudi Royal Navy. “We’ve been told there is a need for six.”

The kingdom has asked the US Defense Security Co-operation Agency to assist it to procure new ships and maritime assets such as the P-8, which is also armed with anti-ship missiles.

Saudi Arabia is leading a charge by Gulf states to modernise their defences following a five–year spike in oil prices and continuing regional tension over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The kingdom’s defence spending totalled $36bn by the end of last year, according to the consulting firm Frost and Sullivan.

Details of the naval overhaul were announced last December when US defence officials said Saudi Arabia wanted to buy the P-8 along with the H-60R Seahawk multimission helicopter built by Sikorsky Aircraft, unmanned Fire Scout helicopters built by Northrop Grumman, and smaller combat ships either from Lockheed Martin or General Dynamics. Neither the Saudis nor Boeing had said how many P-8 aeroplanes might be part of the sale.

The aircraft are said to cost $220 million each and come with advanced radar and sensing equipment from Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.

“We’re trying to help the Saudis with their naval expansion programme,” the US Vice Admiral Jeffrey Wieringa told Reuters in December. The US helped Saudi Arabia upgrade its fleet 30 years ago and those ships were now “mature” and needed to be replaced, he said.

The P–8 Poseidon is a new maritime patrol aircraft derived from the Boeing 737 passenger aeroplane, one of several military variants the company is developing as part of efforts to use its commercial aircraft to create new defence platforms. The aircraft also uses sensors to identify fuel vapours from diesel submarines and other ships.

The US Navy intends to buy 117 of the aircraft as it replaces its older P-3 Orion maritime patrol planes, with entry into service around 2014. Boeing is also promoting the aircraft internationally to boost sales.

Its first overseas deal came last year when the Indian Navy said it would buy eight P-8 aircraft in an agreement worth a reported $2.1bn. First deliveries are expected in 2014.

Link:

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091024/BUSINESS/710249940/1005
 

sandeepdg

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Seems the Saudis are already having nightmares of Iran acquiring more subs as well as its increased defense cooperation with the Chinese.
 

GokuInd

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Seems the Saudis are already having nightmares of Iran acquiring more subs as well as its increased defense cooperation with the Chinese.
besides already being under heavy fire from Yemeni Shia rebels along the border.
 

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