The world is going through a lot of changes at the political, economic and social levels. Wars are one of the main reasons for these changes. They make the strong in a place of control and power. States are always seeking to arm and build their armies and to strengthen their power. The weak and the weak. The Arab world lives in a politically tense region

At the level of diversity of weapons sources, there are many alternatives but there are international restrictions on the market of weapons. The most important of these are strategic alliances that play a role in permitting armaments or not.

Buying a weapon requires a huge amount of financial funding, which erodes any budget. Not to mention the conditions and restrictions of use, imposed by the countries producing weapons

The balance of military forces in the Middle East has been largely unchanged for some time. It has not changed radically, and of course the Arab countries that do not possess the technology of the military industries or the military industrialization are large, which makes the entire Arab armies dependent on external armament by importing.

According to the Research Institute for World Peace, based in Stockholm, Sweden, arms imports to the Gulf between 2008 and 2012 accounted for 7% of global arms trade, mainly missile defense equipment and systems. In general, arms sales to the Gulf have increased in recent years

The Saudi army is the second most powerful Arab armies and ranks 25th in the world according to the rankings of Global Fire, but it is known that the Saudi army is the purchase of various sophisticated weapons deals fictional, the most prominent deals are the US tanks deal M1-A1 worth $ 3 billion, But the biggest deal ever was a US-Saudi agreement to supply 84 F-15SA aircraft and buy military equipment worth $ 60 billion.

Not only did Saudi Arabia do so, but went to buy 72 British-made fighter planes, the Euro-Typhoon, worth $ 7.9 billion. The Saudi Air Force also owns the American-developed F-15S. France, along with the United States, Of the Saudi National Guard includes providing the latest platforms and modern training systems in a deal worth more than $ 2 billion.

The Saudi army also relies on the importation of some Russian military techniques in the multi-billion dollar deals between the two sides. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest arms importers in the Middle East with a wide variety of sources between the United States as a major partner, Britain, France and Russia, but to varying degrees.

Crown Prince and the Saudi Army … continuous development

Important arms deals, including those approved by the US State Department and Congress to sell a number of defense hardware and defense programs to Saudi Arabia, were carried out in order to implement the third phase of the modernization of the Boeing E-3 aircraft systems known as AWACS Early air”.

The Kingdom has enhanced its military capabilities by developing its JSOW remote-weapons specifications, used by the Navy and the Air Force. The US Department of Defense announced that on 6/6/2014 it had signed the first contract under JSOW Joint Attack Weapon Production Project AGM-154C To develop the designs and specifications of JSOW C Block III for the Royal Saudi Navy

The Saudi crown prince has said his country spends about $ 50 billion to $ 70 billion a year on military industrialization, saying it is the third country in the world to spend on armaments.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that “99 percent of military spending is outside the kingdom,” indicating that Saudi Arabia imports most of the equipment and weapons from abroad.

He added that the Kingdom aims to be military industrialization by 50% locally by 2030. He also stressed that the focus on the lifting of military equipment and logistics industries of the priorities of the Kingdom in the coming period.

On the subject of military industries, Prince pointed to the direction of Saudi Arabia to establish a holding company for the military industries to settle the industry and make it one of the tributaries of the national economy. Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked: Is it reasonable that Saudi Arabia was the fourth largest country in the world in 2014, Ranked third in the world, and has no military industry within Saudi Arabia.

• We spend more than Britain, more than France, and we have no industry. “If we can raise this ratio to 30 or 50 percent, it will create a huge new industrial sector, it will support the economy very strongly, and it will create many jobs, but it is a challenge,” he said. “We are restructuring many military deals, so they are tied to a Saudi industry. He said

He said: The Saudi government will turn part of the arms contracts concluded by the Ministry of Defense and other security and military to link them to the settlement of a local military industry.

The Russian-Saudi relations witnessed a boom during King Salman’s visit to the Russian capital of Moscow, during which a number of agreements were signed in various fields between the industrial, military and cultural sectors, among them the purchase of the famous Russian AK-103.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has paved the way for such deals aimed at strengthening the capabilities of the Saudi army during his visit to Moscow in 2015,

Political Studies Unit *

References

1. Trump wants Saudi Arabia to buy more American-made weapons. Here are the ones the Saudis want

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/20/saudi-arabia-wants-to-buy-these-american-made-weapons.html

2. Saudis Want to Make Their Own Weapons. Russia Is Eager to Help

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-02/saudis-want-to-make-their-own-weapons-russia-is-eager-to-help

3. State Dept. announces $1B in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/379833-state-dept-announces-1b-in-weapons-sales-to-saudi-arabia