The White House announced on Saturday that US President Donald Trump “has just completed largest single arms deal in US history, negotiating a package totaling more than $109.7 billion.”
The deal will boost Saudi Arabia’s defense capabilities, bolstering equipment and services in the face of a large-scale proxy war against Iran in the Middle East.
In Saudi Arabia @POTUS has just completed largest single arms deal in US history, negotiating a package totaling more than $109.7 billion
— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) May 20, 2017
“This package of defense equipment and services support the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region in the face of Iranian threats, while also bolstering the Kingdom’s ability to contribute to counter terrorism operations across the region,” CNBC News quoted the White House statement.
Trump arrived the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Saturday for negotiations with the Saudi side over a series of the issues including cooperation in security and military fields.
“According to White House sources, the United States and the Saudis signed letters of offer and acceptance for eight foreign military sales deals worth a total of $12.5 billion earlier today. Those agreements will be implemented as soon the Department of Defense puts contracts in place with industry—and funds are received from Saudi Arabia,” The National Interest reported on the issue, adding that “The remaining $95 billion portion of the arms package comes in the form of 34 memorandum of intent items.”
So far, the $109.7 billion arms deal has become the biggest result of the trip. it also indicates that the Trump administration is increasing its efforts aimed at countering the Iranian influence in the region. In this case, Saudi Arabia is an obvious US ally.
To put it in relation , the amount is roughly 10% of the spanish GDP
Or 7 year GDP of Croatia… Like MeMadMax say…where do they get the money. This mean Barrel Crude oil goes over 150$ again for the world and 10$ for the US
Y de paso, autorización para la construcción de 50 mezquitas en suelo americano y todas del tamaño de la mezquita de la M30 ! Échale huevos !
Chinese military budget is 150BN $ (officially), with great economy and 1,4 BN people, while Saudi Arabia has only 30 million people (only 20mil are saudi nationals!). SA spend more than double of its budget on military than on health and social development. Sharia lunatics, mad with power, armed to the teeth, fully supported by western governments….
Interesting that the saudi gov still has this amount of reserve left. We are also pretty sure that since this is buying american equipment, it will most likely not end up in syria, but in Yemen. Oh and will also be used in attacking Iran…
Prepare for a false flag soon that will be the kickoff, and will also inflate gas prices and cause venezula’s maduro to dance…
im really hoping all that equipment sold to saudis will be defective/faulty/break lol
Whatever it is, unless its bullets and small arms, it will be downgraded versions of our stuff. The export M1 tanks they get have weaker armor and less capable electronics. Same with the helicopters’ electronics.
hahaha nice
We have seen it in Yemen , the saudi M1 tanks perform as well against the Houties as the Shermans did against the Germans at the battle of Normandy.
This is quite normal and general practice eveywhere.
Nato supplies the real deal only to Nato members. Everybody else gets materiel a little downgraded.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/saudi-arabia/gdp
646 billion $$ GDP of Saudi Arabia in 2015
They are spending in this deal 1/6 of their GDP in one stroke !
I doubt that they have this cash put under their pillow.
The Maduro show starts this summer with the ‘temp’ base at the Amazon at the border of Columbia, Peru and Brazil.
To put it in another relation.
The russian defense budget 2016 was 3.36 trillion rubles , the exchange rate is 1000 rub = 17.50 $ Results : 58.8 billion $$
Trump has sold weapons worth two times the russian defense budget ………..
And he is selling his soul to the devil !
No he’s not. Huge coup by Trump. Got a lot of monkeys off his back all at once.
Charlie rad ; you are right , in that he made a “great sale” , and the Republican Senators and military industrial elite will now kiss his ass . But the cost to America , and the world is Large . This Wahhabi Sunni war against the Shia in Lebanon , Syria , Iraq and Iran , is fundamentally a war by those who wish to impose their “One Way” upon not only the Shia , but upon all peoples that follow their own chosen paths , be they Sunni , Shia , Christian etc.. One day soon that will include you . The Wahhabi ideology is without mercy , true warriors follow a path with heart .
Ronald I agree with you . I am no friend of Saudis & Qatar. As you can see what happened today. there are 2 Factions in Saudi Arabia. The wahabi Scum & the Pro-western New King. TRUMPs hates the Wahabis as well. The oldest pro-wahabi prince was just removed from line of secession. His younger 31 yr old Pro-west brother who met with POTUS & Putin is the new Saudis that POTUS helped. They blockaded the Qatari Wahabi aligned Emir. Who just also conceded something important to POTUS. That’s why the flip back. Looks like ISIS just ran out of major funding. Trump is scoring some major victories. Now we need to clean-up Deepstate, 4th reich, & ISIS. Hopefully we can ally with the Russians to destroy DEEPstate & ISIS globally.
The new heir to the throne is not Wahhabi ? I’m under the impression that the whole of the Saudi royal family is Wahhabi Sunni . For the last 35 years they have built Wahhabi madrassas (schools) and mosques , in every Muslim country , spending hundreds of billion dollars . I have been wrong before , and hope you are correct . Seeing is believing . The US “deepstate” , JFK warned us about in a speech a week before he was assassinated . The CIA Act of 1947 , would need to be re-written , and Trump cannot do that alone . Considering that the former Director of the CIA , John Brennan was a convert to Wahhabi Islam , and Huma Abedin , Hillary’s personal assistant ,who ran the State Dept. , was also Wahhabi , the reality is they have installed many traitors in key positions for the last eight years . America is in real trouble , these people are going to be hard to discover and root out . If America can heal itself , it will stop waging wars in the world.
the problem is not trump, but weak russian economy. and olso the low capacity of russian military industry.
I was not making any criticism about the russian budget. Probably they would like to spend more if possible.
me, too.
i pointed only on limits.
Well Russia’s still recovering after the iron curtain fell and the new sanctions, oil prices etc. there money is pretty weak but there military will eventually get there
and look what russia is accomplishing with that budget in syria and elswhere, compared to the problems all of US new toys is having
USA has very overinflated weapons costs. $50K hammer is for real. All the corruption is built into the prices. Trump will soon fix all that. More aggressive bidding process.,etc,,
Lol like in the movie independence day when they are at area 51 and Julius says “u dont actually think they spend $20,000 on a hamma, $30,000 on a toilet seat do ya?”
Overpriced and over hyped weapons to an inept military that needs every little technological gimmick to feel empowered against Iran.
hahah u hit the nail right on the head bro
so true. Saudis store 40% of their weapons now. They have to hire mercenaries to operate the weapons they are actually using. Saudis are not known for their fighting skills. Very inept. All the training in the world can’t replace natural ability & desire.
Saudis are used to an easy life, they try to be influential by funneling money to acquire fighting proxies, it was rather hilarious when they were talking about sending troops in Syria to fight alongside their proxies.
Buying the latest weapons from US is synonymous to going to a “5 star” restaurant and spending $5000 for dinner, while spending $500 on premium food products and have a great barbecue is far more cost efficient and enjoyable.
Indeed it does and the next morning we still shit the residue down the toilet irrespective of the cost of the meal. The Saudis have just paid the bill demanded by the US Protection Racket to keep their despotic regime in power for a little longer. The end will be the same and Saudi Princes being roasted on a spit will be the order of the day.
There is a difference between an investment budget, expenditures that will last 20 or more years and an annual expense budget.
Economy 101.
But over the top for a rather small army, I agree.
Chinese military budget is 150BN $, with great economy and 1,4 BN people, while Saudi Arabia has only 30 million people (only 20mil are saudi nationals!) SA spend more than double of its budget on military than on health and social development. Sharia lunatics, mad with power, armed to the teeth, fully supported by western governments….
I’m saying nothing new for the regulars here, but this kind of money buys more than just weapons. It buys love, so it’ll certainly buy policy. It’d still be in line with his candidacy if Trump would say “Here are the tools to defend yourselves, far beyond what Iran will ever have. So now you share in the responsibility to keep the peace.” But that’s not what his generous hosts like to hear of course. As MeMadMax also implied, when the Saudis are spending like this it’s almost as if they know something… maybe in the line of oil prices going way up? As if a little bird told them a big international crisis is just around the corner. Interesting times indeed.
I agree that all that money is not only for weapons, but also to buy policy. Unfortunately, i also believe that a major direct conflict in Middle East is just around the corner. ISIS is about to be completely defeated in Mosul and Raqqa will fall to the Kurds soon. Saudi Arabia will have to intervene or admit defeat.
Tillerson did just say to Saudis that they now have to defend themselves . To take most of the burden in the Mideast. Great job. Trump just got the Military industrial complex off his back. & actually decreased our spending for Defense of Middle east. & created thousands of jobs in USA.
Well Tillerson is about the only one of them who hasn’t yet proven himself to be insane. I stand by my point what from the Saudis’ point of view, this is not primarily about those guns. What would they do with them? The princes have never in their life stepped outside the air conditioning, they have no intention to get shot at. And outside the Saud family, they don’t really trust their own citizens–for very valid reasons. Trump probably feels that, compared to building golf courses and casinos, he’s thinking big now; alas, he’s not thinking big enough. So what if you sell $350 bn in weapons, if in the coming years you’ll have to spend $4 tn on an Iran war? Yeah I know taxpayer money is considered cheap in Washington, which is all well until finally the dollar collapses, and the Empire with it.
I see on other fora how right-wing Americans are cheering Trump “sticking it to the Saudis by mentioning Islamic terrorism on their home turf”. Unfortunately, “Islamic terrorism” has now been redefined to mean Assad trying to keep what’s left of his country together, and Iran just… existing as an independent country. THAT’S what these astronomical sums are buying. Let’s back off here for a moment. Trump is rationalizing what he does as swindling the Saudis out of their cash. How likely is it that an inexperienced buffoon can outsmart those wily sheiks?
saudis are retarded militarily, just look at yemen, theyve been trying to conquer it for over two years now and theyre getting their asses handed to them now more than ever by the houthis lol
So Trump now officially supports active participants in the 911 attacks (most hijackers from SA), weapons exports to terrorists and all the resulting destruction and civilian death (Syria through SA), and the mass starvation and slaughter of innocent men, women & children (Yemen through SA). Saudi Arabia even got him to bow to them in his acceptance of their little gold trinket.
So, there will be plenty of brand-new, cutting edge tech targets for shooting practice for Yemeni flip-flops fighters :-)
Saudis can fire nothing.nasty pigs they are.no warriors at all.