Since coming to power, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) has spent a third of the kingdom’s budget on weapon purchases, despite the high unemployment rate.
Saudi Arabia ranked as the second-largest arms importer globally in 2018-2022. The Kingdom received 9.6 percent of all arms imports during that period.
According to a Saudi senior official, who refused to be named for security reasons, Saudi arms purchases during 2022 included aircraft, air defense systems, armored vehicles, missiles, naval weapons, sensors, and ships.
Saudi Arabia’s main suppliers and their share of its total imports: US (78 percent), France (6.4 percent), and Spain (4.9 percent).
The US arms transfers to Saudi Arabia included “the delivery of 91 combat aircraft with hundreds of land-attack missiles and over 20,000 guided bombs,” according to SIPRI’s report.
The Kingdom’s overall imports decreased by 8.7 percent when comparing 2013–2017 and 2018-2022.
In 2018, MBS signed a Memorandum of Intent with the U.K. government to purchase 48 Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighter jets.
The aim of the MOI is to “finalise discussions for the purchase of 48 Typhoon Aircraft.”
Opposition politicians and activists in the U.K. have campaigned to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia over human rights issues and the war in Yemen.
Prime Minister Theresa May was accused of failing to take Saudi Arabia to task over possible war crimes in Yemen
No military achievement reported
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.
World’s Largest Importer of Arms
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.
The ramp up has been significant since their March 2015 intervention in the Yemen civil war. 17% of arms acquired by the country since the 1952 have come in the last three years, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The 2016 and 2017 shipments from the United States include: 142 helicopters, eight anti-submarine aircraft, 153 tanks, and over 20,000 guided missiles. These weapons provide air support for the war in Yemen. A conflict that has been fought primarily from above. Statistics from the Yemen Data Project show hundreds of air raids a month in Yemen. An air raid may consist of several dozen air strikes.
