Pentagon proposes huge sale of warplanes to Saudis

Article

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is seeking a go-ahead from Congress to sell up to $60 billion worth of sophisticated warplanes to Saudi Arabia and could add another $30 billion worth of naval arms in a deal designed to counter the rise of Iran as a regional power.

The deal would apparently represent the largest single U.S. arms sale ever approved. It would allow Saudi Arabia, the most militarily advanced of the Arab Gulf states and one of the richest countries in the world, to buy top-line U.S.-made helicopters and fighter jets with ranges that would span the Middle East and beyond.

Unlike some previous sales to Saudi Arabia, this one is not expected to be derailed by opposition in Congress or from U.S. backers of Israel, who have worried in the past about blunting Israel's military edge over its Arab neighbors.

The Pentagon plans to notify Congress of the proposed Saudi sale within about a week, spokesman Col. David Lapan said Monday. Lapan would not confirm details of the Saudi shopping list pending congressional notification, but two senior defense officials said it includes up to 84 new F-15 fighter jets and three types of helicopters including the sleek Black Hawk and the missile-toting Apache.

The biggest arms sale in US history. Hopefully the money the US gets from Saudi Arabia goes to something good.

I wonder what the 3rd kind of helicopter is.

They could be the AH-1 Super Cobra attack helicopters. I doubt it will be the RAH-66 Comanche as its not inproduction. But its interesting what they are getting, the Saudis. I heard the F-15s to be sold will be the newest F-15SE (Silent Eagle) en.wikipedia.org...
Basically an F-15 with stealth capabilities!

How cool is that? Hope we get some of those bad boys to supplement our F-22s.

ahh, I found out the 3rd type! My mistake, its not the Super Cobras, but the MH-6 Little Bird (AKA Loach). Found here:
online.wsj.com...

In a notification to Congress, expected to be submitted this week or next, the administration will authorize the Saudis to buy as many as 84 new F-15 fighters, upgrade 70 more, and purchase three types of helicopters—70 Apaches, 72 Black Hawks and 36 Little Birds, officials said.

reply to post by buni11687


reminds me of the f-14 sales to iran arm a supposed ally to fight someone we dont like and we all saw how that turned out.


while saudias arent on the "official" state sponsors of terrorism we all know they do finance terrorism.


i dont get why they didnt buy russian or chinese hell of alot cheaper and they could have gotten more.

another thought here maybe this is a response for russia arming iran.

but then agian irans s-300 sams have no problem knocking any plane out of the sky at this moment except maybe 5th gen fighters and im not so sure of all the "hype" concerning those

if iran ever mobilized its pretty much guaranteed that saudi would get run over just like kuwait did by saddam.

the sale is worthless from a strategic standpoint.

Weren't 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 from saudi arabia?

This is completely ridiculous.