October 31, 2018-U.S. defense companies sold the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia nearly $139 billion of military equipment and defense services over the last 10 years. That’s more than the $110 billion in sales projected for the next 10 years.
International arms sales to the kingdom are coming under greater scrutiny in the aftermath of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabian officials in Istanbul, Turkey on Oct. 2.
Last week, the European Parliament passed a resolution urging member states to ban arm sales to Saudi Arabia. Some U.S. lawmakers, like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are urging colleagues to to do same.
Ongoing Arms Sales
The highest grossing year of sales to the Saudi military for U.S. defense companies was 2010 with $60.9 billion of sales.
Sales include Chinook, Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, Javelin missiles, and Patriot Air Defense systems, among others. It also includes military training and maintenance. Materials primarily go to the Royal Saudi Land Forces, Naval Forces and Air Force.
Next 10 Years: $110 Billion
In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump negotiated a deal with Saudi Arabia worth $110 billion in defense contracts over ten years.
The deal was negotiated in advance of a U.S.-Saudi Arabia summit, an event that would be Trump’s first overseas trip.
Press reports hailed the deal as “historic” and “significant.” While the summit itself was seen as a symbolic strengthening of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia strategic partnership, away from the Obama Administration’s stance of engaging talks with Iran.
Shared Interests
Announcing the arm-sales deal in May 2017, the White House said, “This package of defense equipment and services supports the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region in the face of malign Iranian influence and Iranian related threats.”
U.S. and Saudi Arabia share interests in combating terrorism and countering Iran’s influence in the region. They’ve also cooperated on missions in Syria and Yemen, although the later has divided the partnership more than it has united it.
Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen
Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of 10 countries in a military intervention in Yemen to an effort to strengthen the Sunni-led government against the Houthi rebels.
As the fighting intensified, the number of civilian casualties grew, as Saudi Arabia led air attacks. The conflict displace millions of people from their homes. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen created the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” according to the United Nations, due to mass starvation of the people.
The fighting is seen as a proxy war between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.
This week, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the Saudi-led coalition to end air strikes and to join peace talks in the United Nations within the next 30 days.
Mattis said the United States has been watching the conflict “long enough,” while speaking to a group at US Institute of Peace in Washington, the BBC reported.
Meanwhile, Pompeo said, “It is time to end this conflict, replace conflict with compromise, and allow the Yemeni people to heal through peace and reconstruction.”
