Editor's Foreword

key staff from Russia and the UK owing to a shortage
of suitable local candidates.
The policy of Saudiisation has figured prominently
in the Kingdom’s most recent procurement
decisions, of which the largest is the purchase of 72
Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft. The massive
deal, known as Project Salam, signalled the start of
an enhanced strategic alliance between the UK and
Saudi Arabia and was a significant boost to UK–Saudi
defence-industrial cooperation. European Eurofighter
partner nations will supply the major components of
the aircraft, which will be built by a new joint venture
company between BAE Systems and Alsalam Aircraft
Company at a new plant being constructed within
Saudi Arabia. In addition to building the new aircraft,
Saudi Arabia will take responsibility for the long-term
maintenance and support of the Typhoon and estimates
that in total the programme will create around
15,000 new jobs. BAE Systems has acknowledged
that its role in Saudi Arabia is changing as it turns
its focus to in-country manufacturing and throughlife
support that will include the development of the
appropriate infrastructure and the ongoing training
of Saudi nationals.
For many years, US and European defence companies
have enjoyed a virtual monopoly on lucrative
defence contracts with the Saudi Arabian armed
forces, but over the past two years Riyadh has sought
to diversify its arms suppliers. In particular, the Saudi
government is thought to be less willing to enter
into contracts with US companies via the traditional
foreign-military-sales (FMS) process, preferring
instead to focus on direct government-to-manufacturer
arrangements. While most new contracts are
Middle East and North Africa
241
still likely to be awarded to the country’s traditional
trading partners, Russia has emerged as a potential
alternative weapons supplier. In 2008, the two
countries signed a military cooperation agreement
and in 2009 a top delegation from the Kremlin and
Rosoboronexport (Russia’s state-owned arms-export
monopoly) visited Saudi Arabia and met with King
Abdullah. Current discussions cover an initial deal
that could amount to US$2bn and is thought to
include up to 150 helicopters (30 Mi-35 aircraft and
120 Mi-17s of various modifications), over 150 T-90S
main battle tanks (MBTs), 250 BMP-3 infantry-combat
vehicles and air-defence missile systems. Future deals
may feature S-400 air-defence systems and Mi-28
combat helicopters.
This new-found relationship between Riyadh and
Moscow is something of a blow to France, which
had been hoping to clinch several deals of its own.
Having failed to persuade the Saudi armed forces to
buy its Rafale fighter aircraft, the emerging deal with
Russia may well put a stop to France’s broader ambitions
to sell its own mix of domestically produced
helicopters to the Kingdom. French attention is now
likely to shift towards laying the groundwork for a
potential sale of some of its recently ordered FREMM
frigates. Originally, the French navy had intended
to procure 17 of the multi-mission vessels, but the
2008 White Paper indicated that there were likely
to be insufficient funds to achieve this, raising the
prospect that any surplus vessels would be offered
for sale overseas. Meanwhile, there was success in
the Kingdom for European defence company EADS,
which achieved some notable new sales in 2009:
three additional A330 multi-role tanker transports
Table 23 middle east and north Africa Regional defence expenditure as % of GDP
% of GDP
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
6.64 6.27 6.48 5.67 6.21 5.86 5.49 5.29 5.06 4.71
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Year
Middle East and
North Africa