Posted on 06/01/2010 10:16:56 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Algeria's defense ministry plans to cut arms purchases from the United States because of lengthy delivery delays and concentrate on Russian weapons systems, the El Khabar newspaper reports.
Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has signed two contracts worth $1.2 billion to deliver 16 Sukhoi Su-30 multi-role fighters to Algeria and six to Uganda, Russia Veomosti daily reported Monday.
The Irkut Corp., part of Russia's United Aircraft Corp., says it has delivered 28 Su-30MKA jets to Algeria, customized to meet Algerian specifications, since 2006.
There was no immediate confirmation by Algeria authorities of Monday's report in El Khabar.
Two years ago, Algeria refused to accept MiG-29 interceptors bought from Russia because of their "inferior quality." Moscow said Russia's defense ministry would fork out $690 million to buy back the aircraft.
It isn't clear why the Algerians, a key Cold War regional client of the former Soviet Union, would now seek to turn again to Moscow for its military equipment.
However, Moscow is making a serious effort to re-establish its influence in the Middle East, albeit on a more pragmatic level than the ideology-driven deals made during the Cold War and one of the most effective ways of doing that is through arms sales.
Russia's defense deals with Iran and Syria have aroused considerable controversy, particularly with the United States and Israel, but they have made the point that Moscow is determined to be a player in the region, particularly as U.S. influence is widely seen to be waning.
.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Maybe we can see if they want to “go green” and sell them some windmills.
I honestly didn’t know the U.S. had been selling to Algeria in the first place.
I guess you really do learn something new every day...
Glad to see someone at UPI can do some research. I saw the headline and thought, “Algeria is going to buy from Russia after Russia tried to make them pay top dollar for some high-time MiGs?”
I did not know that either.
Someone in the Algerian government was bribed. That is how business is done there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.