Free Republic

Artist’s concept of a Lockheed Martin Multi-Mission Surface Combatant. US Navy Lockheed Martin has been awarded the first contract for a quartet of frigates the company is building as part of a $20 billion foreign military sales package to Saudi Arabia, USNI News has learned. Last week, the company was awarded a $22.74 million Pentagon contract to modify the design of the existing Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship class for a more heavily armed, “Multi-mission Surface Combatant.” The new frigates will the centerpiece of the long-awaited Saudi Naval Expansion Program II. SNEP II is set to modernize the Royal Saudi Navy’s...

[IMRA: The beauty of the series of private industry contracts providing American technical assistance to the Saudi armed forces is that it considerably stretches the envelope of possible Saudi military activity that could be carried out without jeopardizing the assistance. It might be hard to imagine American GI's providing ongoing technical assistance and support services to Saudi forces participating in an attack against Israel in a joint operation with Egypt but the continued functioning of a private American contractor under those circumstances might be a different story.] WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has decided to continue aid for the...