France has signed deals worth 10 billion euros ($11.4 billion) with Saudi Arabia, said French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, underscoring the shared foreign policy stances that have helped deepen the two countries’ military and economic ties.
A French official, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the media, says a military helicopter deal is also expected to be signed in Riyadh.
In June, Saudi Arabia signed agreements worth billions of dollars to buy 23 helicopters for the Interior Ministry, 50 Airbus jets and two possible nuclear reactors from France.
Saudi Arabia’s military spending stood at an estimated 245 billion riyals in 2022 placing it third in the world. Since coming to power, MBS has spent a third of the kingdom’s budget on weapon purchases, despite the high unemployment rate.
Saudi Arabia has spent a fortune buying arms from America to prosecute a war that has killed almost a quarter of a million people — the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe in our lifetime. However, no real achievement was reported, as Saudi Arabia failed to stop Houthi attacks on the Kingdom.
Within the last 10 years, Saudi Arabia has turned itself into the world’s largest buyer of weapons on the world market. Ten years ago, it was buying 90% less than they are today.
The US and UK are the kingdom’s top suppliers. With purchases of astonishingly expensive weapons like helicopters, tanks, and guided missiles, nearly all of its foreign-made weapons (by value) come from these two countries.
The ramp up has been significant since their March 2015 intervention in the Yemen civil war. 17% of arms acquired by the country since the 1952 have come in the last three years, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The 2016 and 2017 shipments from the United States include: 142 helicopters, eight anti-submarine aircraft, 153 tanks, and over 20,000 guided missiles. These weapons provide air support for the war in Yemen. A conflict that has been fought primarily from above. Statistics from the Yemen Data Project show hundreds of air raids a month in Yemen. An air raid may comprise of several dozen air strikes.
Saudi Arabia ranked as the second-largest arms importer globally in 2018-2022. The Kingdom received 9.6 percent of all arms imports during that period.
According to a Saudi senior official, who refused to be named for security reasons, Saudi arms purchases during 2022 included aircraft, air defense systems, armored vehicles, missiles, naval weapons, sensors, and ships.
Opposition politicians and activists have campaigned to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia over human rights issues and the war in Yemen.
