The Royal Saudi Navy is due to receive next week a fourth of five Avante 2200 class corvettes delivered by the Spanish shipbuilding company “Navantia” with
Spain and Saudi Arabia finalized Avante 2200 Corvette deal worth around €1.8 billion in April 2018.
A new deal is expected to be signed by 2024, to build 5 new multi-mission combat ships.
MBS has signed a number of arms deals totaling billions of dollars since taking office, completely disregarding record-breaking unemployment and poverty rates.
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.
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, it was 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.
A total of 61% of Saudi Arabia’s arms imports came from the U.S., and 49% of British arms exports are allocated to Saudi Arabia.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia was the third-largest recipient of German arms. The total for 2018 was €416.4 million. The kingdom is also considered France’s second-best arms customer between 2008 and 2017.
The ramp up has been significant since their March 2015 intervention in the Yemen civil war.
Since the start of the Yemen war, Saudi Arabia’s military spending increased to reach an estimated $63 billion, placing it third in the world.
Saudi Arabia has spent a fortune buying arms from America 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.
Saudi Arabia declared its war on Yemen in 2015 and said it would last for a few months. The Kingdom bet on its military forces and Gulf allies. However, the war has resulted in heavy military and economic losses.
MBS repeatedly said that his war with the Houthis would only last a few days. The actual military losses, however, are much higher than those declared.
