The Biden administration approved a major $500 million sale to fund spare and repair parts for Saudi Arabia’s military.
The proposed sale would fund components for Saudi Arabia’s existing Abrams and M-60 tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, light armored vehicles and Humvees, Al-Monitor reports.
The proposal would also fund spare and repair parts for rifles and pistols as well as crew-served weapons systems, such as the kingdom’s TOW anti-tank missile launchers, radar sets, recoilless rifles as well as computer units, radar sets and night vision devices, among other equipment.
The proposed sale does not include any new systems and suggests something of a thaw on Capitol Hill towards Saudi Arabia, noted Al-Monitor.
Saudi Arabia is the US’ largest single foreign market for arms sales, but the relationship has come under strain in recent years since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
An intelligence report released in February 2021 by the Biden administration said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved Khashoggi’s murder.
Under pressures, the Biden administration froze sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia shortly after coming into office in 2021.
Reliable sources revealed that Saudi Arabia is the fifth-largest military spender worldwide, spending some $75 billion last year. Supposedly, this puts Riyadh above the UK, Germany, and France.
Saudi Arabia’s military spending in 2022 increased by 16%, reaching an estimated $75 billion, the largest since 2018, the sources clarified.
In 2022, Riyadh spent an estimated $75bn on its military, according to the sources, up from the $48bn it spent in 2021. This was more than seven percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Saudi Arabia was last ranked in the top three military spenders in 2020.
Saudi military spending exceeded in 5 years the spending in the education and health sectors, estimated at $273 billion, representing 20.9% of government spending in total.
The Saudi government allocated 17.7% of its 2021 budget for military spending, estimated nearly $46.7 billion, down from the $48bn it spent in 2020.
Since 2016, Saudi Arabia has intensified its military spending, which includes non-military security institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Interior.
Saudi Arabia has spent a fortune buying arms from the US to prosecute a war that has killed almost a quarter of a million people — the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe in our lifetime.
However, no real achievement was reported, as Saudi Arabia failed to stop Houthi attacks on the Kingdom.
Within the last 10 years, Saudi Arabia has turned itself into the world’s largest buyer of weapons on the world market. Ten years ago, they were buying 90% less than they are today.
The US and UK are the kingdom’s top suppliers. With purchases of astonishingly expensive weapons like helicopters, tanks, and guided missiles, nearly all of its foreign-made weapons (by value) come from these two countries.
The ramp up has been significant since their March 2015 intervention in the Yemen civil war. 17% of arms acquired by the country since 1952 have come in the last three years, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
MBS has signed a number of arms deals totaling billions of dollars since taking office, completely disregarding record-breaking unemployment and poverty rates.
MBS’s large arms purchases are aimed at whitewashing his poor human rights record, especially after the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in his country’s consulate in Istanbul.
