Posted on 05/21/2017 7:38:55 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
RIYADH // Lockheed Martin said on Sunday it inked a US$28 billion deal with Saudi Arabia to supply a wide range of military equipment and set up a facility to assemble about 150 S-70 Black Hawk helicopters.
The deal is part of an estimated $110bn of defence agreements signed on Saturday between the US and Saudi Arabia, where President Donald Trump is leading a high-level delegation on his first international trip since taking office.
The Lockheed deals will create 18,000 skilled jobs in the US and thousands of jobs in Saudi Arabia as both countries seek to be active in job creation as part of their political mandates. Saudi Arabia has outlined Vision 2030 that aims to develop new industries such as defence and lower foreign defence purchases, while President Trump is keen to support US job creation.
More than 50 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s military spending is envisaged to be sourced locally by 2030 under Vision 2030, the brainchild of deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Lockheed signed letters of intent and a memorandum of intent to sell Saudi Arabia technology that includes integrated air and missile defence systems, multi-mission surface combatant ships, radar systems, surveillance systems, tactical aircraft and rotary wing programs, the defence company said in a statement.
Lockheed also signed a letter of intent with Taqnia, a technology development and investment company owned by sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF), to form a joint venture for final assembly and completion of Black Hawk utility helicopters for the Saudi government.
Lockheed also signed an initial agreement with Saudi Arabian Military Industries (Sami), which is owned by PIF, to help the newly-formed defence company build its industrial capability and "provide for localisation efforts associated with multi-mission Surface Combatants and Aerostats".
Saudi Arabia wants Sami to be one of the world’s top 25 defence companies by 2030 as it seeks to add thousands of manufacturing jobs and diversify its income away from oil.
Raytheon and General Dynamics also signed agreements yesterday with Saudi Arabia aimed at helping develop the kingdom’s defence industry.
you are just a plain old damn fool for thinking that
“If Allah WILLS the tank to start, the tank will start.”
“The prince swings the sword, the slave sharpens it.”
It will be interesting to see how they overcome these views.
I suspect this will turn out badly...but might be many years down the line before we see the bad news of it.
However, maybe arms to Muzzies will be a good thing...for once.
To the Sikh supervisor:
“Where do you get off telling me what to do..? Do you know who my third cousin is, you dirty little brown man..?”
The Saudis have always been more interested in our technicians working with them. Less transfer, just jobs at remote sites.
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science against which it had vainly struggled - the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.”
A quote from an 1899 book by Winston Churchill, "The River War", in which he describes Muslims he apparently observed during Kitchener's campaign in the Sudan
Dont think there won’t be Persians especially in the Iranian military and technical sectors who arent watching all this and remembering those days ..
I am not familiar with the technological aspects of this but let me just ask this question.
Would technology be an issue if we did this EXACT same deal with Russia.
The Saudis have always been more interested in acquiring western dhimmis and now they have recruited them at the highest levels ...
employment in Saudi maybe gets smoothed out
Military sales do not work that way, there is a thing called offsets in which the buyer wants to get something additional out of the deal.
The Indians have been trying to domestically produce military FW and helo’s for quite some time with little to show for it. There are a lot of things which have to come together for one of these programs to succeed. It seldom happens.
The only thing Saudi Arabia has ever produced is oil, and lots of it. Their your typical rich doctor down the street who doesn't know how to start a lawn mower or turn a screw driver. He doesn't have to know, he's got enough money to hire someone to do it for him.
As someone mentioned above, once manufacturing begins in S.A., they're going to require American contractors to build the plants, staff them with maintenance workers. I don't think they have an over abundance of skilled plant electricians, millwrights or pipe fitters over there.........
It just seems to be a repeating pattern to me?
Ok, so we give them technology, our military technology? I just can’t imagine what could go wrong with this?
I hope as these deals are made fully known, Congress does have to approve of this, that the ‘sense’ of this becomes more clear.
The technology means nothing to them, as Arabs are notoriously poor maintainers of military hardware - it's all British and American technicians - so without us nothing flies.
So, our maintainers have jobs, along with spare parts manufacturers and logistics trains.
And Iran puckers up - that's a win-win.
Very good assessment. I have seen some of the videos of the Saudi Army in Yemen also. They are fish in a barrel and have zero combat acumen even with equipment that mirrors some of ours. I think they know the sea of oil riches can only last so long and that they are petrified of Iran let alone of internal disruption. I don’t think it is wise, though, to be big brother of their kingdom.
many-foreign-workers-are-leaving-saudi-arabia
From the article 9 million foreign workers in SA.
Population of SA ~30 million,0–14 years 27.6%
65 and over 3.2%. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Saudi_Arabia
10MM too young/ too old, <20MM possible workforce, not many female workers.
The total number of foreign workers may equal the Saudi workers.
If you search hard, you will find anecdotes on the inability of Arab flight students to absorb the knowledge and skills needed to pilot modern aircraft.
I did find this study ( http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a425672.pdf ) by a USAF officer on the performance of the Iraqi Air Force in the Iraq-Iran war. His conclusion was: "Nonindustrialized, third world nations are incapable of fielding a decisive, conventional air force."
One need only look at Israel's performance against a host of well equipped and fully manned Arab armies and air forces to appreciate the gap between the abilities of Arab and western armed forces.
But when a US arms producer sets up in a foreign nation, it is a technology transfer and most foreign nations will copycat the production if they are capable, just as the Chinese are gradually trying to develop a commercial airline industry with significant help from more and more Boeing production in China.
We once took significant steps to safeguard US military technology, and we should still be doing that. Our government, starting with Slick, has loosened up in several areas that make it too easy for military technology to be copied.
The Indians have been trying to domestically produce military FW and helo’s for quite some time with little to show for it.
Having a Sikorsky plant right there in India will be a big help to them.
As they say, “good question”
I can only say that before anything such as this is agreed to, the technology that will be transferred is analyzed by the developers and what will be transferred will be documented and reviewed by the state department. So it is not done without concern.
Would we have a different level of concern before transferring technology to Russia? Clearly, and we would allow transfer to Israel at a different level than the Saudis? Absolutely. One of the things about some technology is that it is so constructed as to be almost impossible to reverse engineer. (Like taking apart a computer chip and discovering how it is programmed.)
As to a helicopter, there are probably instances where our technology has already fallen into the Saudi’s (or our other enemy’s ) hands and therefore there is no concern that we are giving them something they don’t already have.
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