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Subject: Saudis Spend Billions On Russian Weapons
SYSOP    5/18/2008 7:51:32 AM
 
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Nichevo    Am I the only one   5/20/2008 1:57:29 AM
    remarking on the political connotations?  Never mind the mixed tech trees, that's the contractor's job.  Have WE cut THEM off from US weaps?  I am struck that they don't buy US or even European.  I wonder what fighters they will buy, Russian would be pretty eye-opening IMHO.

Or are they just stroking the Russians for a UN vote or something?
 
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Nichevo       5/20/2008 1:59:27 AM
Could it be finances?  Sheer meritocratic bang-for-buck value?  Are they hurting despite $127 oil?  Surely not.

Has this sale been confirmed?
 
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Lance Blade       5/20/2008 6:37:25 AM
hXXp://www.saudi-us-relations.org/articles/2007/ioi/071124-gcc-russia.html

Saudi Arabia, traditionally the most loyal client of Western defense contractors, recently announced a multibillion-dollar purchase of Russian Mil Mi-17 medium multi-role and Mi-35 attack helicopters. Although the contract is yet to be confirmed by RosOboronExport, and while some analysts are skeptical of Russia?s ability to fulfill such an order, Riyadh?s estimated $2.2 billion order of up to 150 helicopters is expected to go through. This would be a major breakthrough for the Russian arms export industry, which, as already mentioned above, has been seeking to penetrate the lucrative GCC arms market for well over a decade.

Western defense industry sources, however, are already acknowledging that Russia?s rival suppliers, to whom Riyadh would usually turn in order to fulfill a defense contract of this magnitude (i.e., Sikorsky, Eurocopter and AgustaWestland), have confirmed that the Russian offer had been accepted. Thus, if one were to draw comparison with the Saudi-Russian inter-state agreements in the energy sector reached during the historic Moscow visit by the then Saudi Crown Price (now King) Abdullah in September 2003, we may be about to witness one of the most high-profile arms deal since the Al-Yamamah British-Saudi deals of the 1980s. This is because Riyadh, which has already expressed an interest in placing an order for Russian T-90 tanks earlier in the year, is sending a signal to the West that Russia is a potential welcome partner in the regional security environment in the Gulf.

The article is dated November 24, 2007.

And the Saudis do buy American and European. They have American F-15s, F-16s and A1M2 MBTs, as well as European Tornados and British Challenger II MBTs. They recently aquired 79 Eurofighter Typhoons. They have arguably the most technologically diverse military in the world. I suspect it's their policy to diversify their sources to prevent political pressure off one entity from taking their military out of order. India and China solve the problem by developing a domestic weapons industry. The Saudis seem to be quite happy just buying their stuff from different markets.
 
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displacedjim       5/20/2008 9:51:00 AM
I think it's great:  I look forward to reading the FME reports in a couple years about the SA-17 system.  :-)
 
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mustavaris       5/20/2008 10:14:19 AM
Buk is not a version of "SAM 6" [Kub]. It is similar system for similar tasks, but that´s all. NSV ain´t a kind of Dushka (Dshk) either..
 
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davod       5/20/2008 1:32:04 PM
Don't blame the Saudis for going rogue.  The Congress just said they will block the $29 billion US arms deal with the Saudis if they do not pump more oil. 
 
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Nichevo       5/20/2008 5:51:27 PM

I think it's great:  I look forward to reading the FME reports in a couple years about the SA-17 system.  :-)


Not if KSA and USA are no longer BFF, that's the point!
 
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Herald12345       5/20/2008 8:26:37 PM




I think it's great:  I look forward to reading the FME reports in a couple years about the SA-17 system.  :-)




Not if KSA and USA are no longer BFF, that's the point!
They are not our friends.  They are our defacto enemies, who just happen to like our shiny toys and who are smart enough (just barely) not to openly upset a major oil customer.

Herald
 
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nyetneinnon       5/22/2008 3:45:18 AM

Don't blame the Saudis for going rogue.  The Congress just said they will block the $29 billion US arms deal with the Saudis if they do not pump more oil. 



Fair point, Davod.  (How much would oil prices drop over the course of a year anyway, if they pumped a few hundred K more... $5?  So perhaps $145 instead of $150 by years end??).  Nice Energy Policy, BTW!  
 
It seems rather implosive and counter-productive of our foreign policy yet I don't so much blame the hot-headed rhetoric lately as it's normal during politically desperate times such as is today.  However, if USgovt doesn't cool down respective Saudi-bashing in so many months and instead goes full-blown trend to do escalate it, we will be only further alienating ourselves and pushing yet more elements within our relative influence farther outside such sphere.
 
We def need to do a time-out imo, with regards to a whole host of foreign policy objectives and recalibrate some strategies in this worldly game we humans like to perfect.
 
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displacedjim       5/22/2008 12:21:56 PM




I think it's great:  I look forward to reading the FME reports in a couple years about the SA-17 system.  :-)




Not if KSA and USA are no longer BFF, that's the point!


Money talks, friend or not.

 
 
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kensohaski       5/24/2008 10:15:47 AM
Common sense dictates that the Saudis are simply diversifying their sources, just like any good investor.
 
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Nichevo       5/25/2008 9:16:04 PM










I think it's great:  I look forward to reading the FME reports in a couple years about the SA-17 system.  :-)






Not if KSA and USA are no longer BFF, that's the point!

They are not our friends.  They are our defacto enemies, who just happen to like our shiny toys and who are smart enough (just barely) not to openly upset a major oil customer.

Herald

Yes, dear Herald.  Of course I meant "BFF" in scare quotes.  It is always worth making the point, of course, though you cannot think me confused on this score.  But of course there has been a, for better or worse, intimate relationship between us and "The Kingdom" since FDR put poison pen to paper with King Saud.  As for a major customer, actually I thought we ourselves did not get that much oil from KSA or the ME in general.  (It sticks in mind that the Navy for some reason favors the grade of crude supplied by Kuwait, FWIW.)  But we have a long history of defenbse cooperation, or should I clean my glasses?

Nyet, so what if it didn't work, they would have done what we asked them.  IMHO the only reason they don't is because they can't.  I am beginning to give some credence to the scare stories about KSA's faking reserves and capacities.

DJ, whaddya mean money talks?  To KSA?  If it would be in any way possible to bribe them it would be a BIG bribe.  Is that what we previously used to conduct such intel and tech transfer?

ken, since when did the Saudis get common sense?  'Diversifying sources like investors?'  Investors diversify their investments.  Meanwhile as Herald would say you really have to have a good reason for diversifying your tech tree and logistical tail in this fashion.  And for that matter, why not buy Euro?  Give the Frogs a stiffy and buy LeClerc, buy Challys, buy Leos.  Buy the Lynx, not commie crapticopters.

I guess I'm the resident alarmist seeing shadows. 



 
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