Riyadh mulls big Russian missile buy

Riyadh mulls big Russian missile buy

www.upi.com

MOSCOW, March 22 (UPI) -- Riyadh has reportedly been mulling the purchase of S-300PMU Russian air-defense missile systems and other arms worth as much as $4 billion, possibly as an inducement to Moscow not to supply such advanced weapons to Iran.

The Russians are doing just that and their relations with Tehran appear to going sour. So what's holding up a deal with Riyadh that would signal a potentially major geopolitical shift in the Middle East?

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According to various sources, the deal involves 12-18 S-300 batteries, as many as 30 Mi-35 assault helicopters and up to 120 Mi-17 transports, 150 T-90 main battle tanks and 250 BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles.

So what's delaying the Saudi purchase? According to Katz: "One theory is that Riyadh does not want to buy the S-300 but the newer and more powerful S-400 instead …

If the deal does ahead, Saudi Arabia would be the first foreign customer of the S-400. Moscow would thus become a direct threat to the U.S. arms industry.

Major missile manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have been trying for years to persuade Saudi Arabia and the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council -- the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain -- to buy interoperable U.S. Patriot PAC3 batteries.

This is very important news. The shift shows that the US is gradually losing its strategic importance to Saudi-Arabia and it might very well be related to the growing importance of China, which recently overtook the US as leading importer of Saudi oil, which is thoroughly explained on my geo-political thread Iran - The Battlefield of The Sino-American Struggle for Power

Obviously, Saudi-Arabia remains dependent on the US as protector against Iran, but there are increasingly signs indicating that the US is losing power globally.


www.upi.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

The Saudis have just as much fear of Iran as the Israelis.

If the Israeli plan has been pushed aside by Washington, the Saudis are going to do what it takes to defend themselves.

Unlike the Israelis, the Saudis won't proactively strike Iran. They will happily arm themselves to the teeth and start their own nuclear program though.

Why Russian equipment? Its costs. 150 T-90s are far far cheaper than 150 M1A2 Abrams.

[edit on 23/3/10 by MikeboydUS]

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
Why Russian equipment? Its costs. 150 T-90s are far far cheaper than 150 M1A2 Abrams.

What reasons do you have to believe that Saudi Arabia would care about procurement costs so much that they'd consider Russian equipment? Saudi-Arabia has until now predominantly bought American equipment, and money has never been much of a problem.

[edit on 23-3-2010 by Mdv2]

reply to post by Mdv2


Or the simple fact that Russians are better at rocketry than everyone else?

You might want to consider that having a duel weapon system that has been built with one common adversary in mind.

East vs West. ( Duel Systems)

However, the problem with the s400 as was the case with the s300 is that it would need internal re calibration in order for it to apply its IFF. To recalibrate and re program internals is something that the RDD is not willing to do.

Then again their hypersonic missile defense system has left no doubt that it could take on and and handle pretty much anything that is thrown at it.....real scary weapons systems built as the second last line of defense, obviously after that, its simply punching in 12 digit and launch sequence is commenced and we all get to view global mushrooms in the sky.

the saudis are the scum of the arab world. they are the reason for extremism and the unrest through the region. saudi arabia is the birth place of wahabism, the deadliest threat to mankind, they support alquada and pay billions of dollars just to destroy the countries with a shia population.

if the amwericans had eyes in thier heads and they could see other than personal profit then they'd see that the saudi government is the cause of all the problems.

even thier prophet mohammed refused to bless them, he refused to bless the people of najd (modern day central saudi arabia)

they are cowards and theonly respect muslims give them is becuase of mecca and madina being in that area...

the saudis are more scared than the israelis. why?

because in muslim prophecy (whether its real or not) it says that an army carrying black flags will come from khoorasan (afghanistan/iran) and that army will be unstoppable until it reaches jerusalme

another army carrying green or white flags wil come from yemen, they will overthrow the oppressive saudi government.

also look at where the major shia population in the world, (iran, iraq, afghanistan, yemen)

if you guys have any idea how the saudis treat their people then you'd see iran as heaven.

the saudis will flee while the persian army will cross through iraq and take over the gulf states. there will be little resistance, they are cowards!

reply to post by MikeboydUS


also on that note the arabs cant maintain their air craft, and other weapons without the help of american, british and so on contractors on the ground doing the job.

so if they had a major diplomatic row. and some sort of breakdown occured
whats to stop these contractors doing what they did in Iran and sabotaging the gear before leaving?

Wow some good thoughts in the thread and quite a bit of ignornace as well.

The Saudis have alot of money and if they buy the S-300 / S-400 there could be many reasons.

1) Since the they already have the PAC-3 (As does Kuwait, Qatar, and UAE) and the S-300 is pretty much what was refered to as a "patriotski" the aqusition of the S-400 system makes more sence. Its range of 250 nm vs. 100 nm, would give it an upper tier missile system for long range intercepts and use the patriot in a medium range defence role.

2) There are claims that it is usefull against some stealth aircraft. Future generations of USAF stealth strike aircraft seem to be geared around the concept of all aspect and optimized for radards accross a spectrum of frequencies (low / high) however, older generation stealth including the F-35 would be more vulnerable to this type of system.

3) Did it occur to anybody that the US will get to pick apart and play with the S-400 if the Saudis get it?

Originally posted by Mdv2

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
Why Russian equipment? Its costs. 150 T-90s are far far cheaper than 150 M1A2 Abrams.

What reasons do you have to believe that Saudi Arabia would care about procurement costs so much that they'd consider Russian equipment? Saudi-Arabia has until now predominantly bought American equipment, and money has never been much of a problem.

[edit on 23-3-2010 by Mdv2]

Money wasn't a problem until oil production started peaking and then declining. The Saudis see themselves as the guardians of Sunni Islam and they know they have a small window to get ready for the inevitable conflict with the Shiites. Technically that conflict has already begun in Yemen, but it will eventually consume more of the Middle East.

The Russian equipment, when you take in costs of American equipment, offers an advantage. They are easier to repair, maintain, and the Saudis will have more of them. The fire control systems in them are probably better than the FCS in the export version of the Abrams. The US doesn't like to export its top of the line electronics. So there are a number of reasons.