Gulf States on Arms Buying Binge to Counter Iran Threat
Saudi Arabia and the smaller Gulf monarchies are buying huge amounts of advanced arms from the United States and Europe. The weaponry is clearly aimed to counter the growing threat they see coming from Iran.
The United States alone has around $100 billion in potential sales in the pipeline right now. The biggest is a Saudi deal, initiated in 2010 and approved by Congress, totaling around $60 billion. The package includes jets, helicopters, hundreds of Harpoon anti-ship missiles, training, and logistical services. Israel, initially worried about the sale, agreed — after U.S. assurances — to support it in September.
In the updated version, the Saudis will receive 84 brand new F-15SAs and have 70 F-15s upgraded. The SA model is based on the F-15SE and incorporates stealth technology, the ability to carry a heavy payload, and a long-range capability.
European countries have also received orders. In 2008 the Saudis purchased 72 multi-role Eurofighter Typhoons. Both Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE.) have approached France to buy 24 and 60 (respectively) advanced Dassault Rafale multirole fighters.
The UAE has embarked on a major military build-up to counter Iran. On December 25, a $3.5 billion weapons deal was signed and included a missile defense system. In late 2011, the UAE requested that the United States sell them 4,900 kits to transform so-called “dumb bombs” into guided “smart” munitions. The proposal includes the sale of bunker buster bombs. The Department of Defense claimed this purchase would serve “U.S. interests by deterring regional aggression,” a reference to Iran.
In October, 2011, Oman asked for $1.24 billion worth of American anti-aircraft systems.
Gulf states have also begun modernizing and expanding their navies. Last July, the UAE’s naval commander called on the Gulf Cooperation Council to “co-operate to reduce vulnerabilities.”
Iraq has already received six coastal patrol boats. Responding to the threat of Iranian Kilo-class submarines and surface ships, Bahrain requested 6 SH-60 maritime patrol helicopters. In 2006, the UAE purchased two German minesweepers and reportedly also opened a naval base to help attack any Iranian blockade of the Straits of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
Iran’s military is no more! Those thugs destroyed a professional and honourable organization called the Iranian Imperial Armed Forces and replaced them with fishermen, shepherds, hooligans, street fighters and so on and formed the “Revolutionary Guards” and the Basijis. These people couldn’t do jack shit against Saddam’s second class army! Revolutionary Guards are equivalent to a criminal organization. They deal in drugs, sex slaves to the Persian Gulf Arab states, they had stolen allot of property, businesses and cash. Oh, they are also murderers plus they engage in torture and rape. So are these soldiers? HELL NO! They backed out of their threat to send an aid ship to mini Bahrain LOL! The Turks sent in a ship to Gaza and didn’t back down. These Pasdars are pimps! As sleazy as these Persian Gulf sheiks are, they treat their citizens with more respect then the false mullahs of Tehran. The truth is a bitter pill to swallow.
Iran maintains a separate standing army. A simple google search would show that.
Note to Ron Paul–Maybe Iran’s neighbors know more than you do about it.
“In October, 2011, Oman asked for $1.24 billion worth of American anti-aircraft systems.”
Keep your eyes on Oman. Sounds dumb, but that country is still run by a Sultan, or king, yet we have not heard about any “Arab Spring” infecting that country yet. Also, with the Iranians making moves in nearby Bahrain, it isn’t inconceivable that they would try something in Oman. Oman is strategically placed at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, not far from the Strait of Hormuz. Whoever controls Oman could control whatever goes into and out of the Gulf. We should be helping the Sultan in Oman with whatever he needs to hold on to power in that country. We should keep our eyes on this country and hope that it always remains friendly to the West.
Today’s ally, tomorrows Saddam.
Some people never learn. The Iraq war was truly for nothing.
Extraordinary young men pays the ultimate sacrifice so useless idiots like the ones on display here can prop up another future despot for yet another war.
^Repeat ad infinitum.
They…are…NOT…our friends. Get…it…into…your…skulls.
I was going to say this, but you beat me to it. The only good aspect to selling weapons such as these is that they require a great deal of study and training to use them properly.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the militaries of these countries don’t exactly have a stellar reputation of such study or training. I hope these weapons turn to dust in the desert.
Amen! Almost all the 911 terrorists were saudis. We have no arab allies and zero moslem allies. Selling them weapons is traitorous and treason. Congress, the usurper-in-chief and the military who did so should be tried and shot.And yet, there is no one in power with the guts to do it.The Council on Foreign Relations is in control of government, the MSm, Wall Street and more.They are a cancer, eating us alive. They must be, legally and morally, excised and destroyed, just as we deal with cancers.
#4 JL gets it.
We build up our own enemies, sell them weapons, then ask our youngest and brightest to spill their blood and lose their lives on battlefields far from Home. Saudi Arabia is the worlds largest single funding entity of terrorism and we are arming them to the teeth.
They don’t need arms against the U.S. Their greatest weapon has been immigration which masked the 9/11 hijackers and also the Muslim “schools” in the U.S. which are anti-American. Slow and steady wins the race says the turtle and without a single thing going for it other than babies exported to the West, it’s their one and only plan.
I wonder where they are going to buy flight crews and pilots
There was a joke that at the main Saudi base there was a British tornado mounted at the entrance and it was the only one they could keep in the air. F-15s don’t fly themselves.
Israeli accounts of flying into Syria and Iraq downplay technology. It was all about flying skill and mission planning.
Aren’t hundreds being trained in Idaho at a sporty expanded base?
These are countries where the locals lack the skills and motivation to do the real work themselves. So they bring in foreigners to build their buildings, run their oil facilities, and design their malls. In contrast to Israel, these countries have difficulty absorbing and integrating this technology.
No doubt contractors will be required to maintain all this hardware. And who will actually fly the planes? Saudi Arabia, for example, has a shortage of qualified pilots. Some reports indicate they rely on Pakistani pilots to fill the gap. Then again, we remember the last time Saudi “pilots” went on the attack, and it was against the US.
Congress’ approving these sales seems to indicate they’re choosing the lessor of evils…..with an eye to domestic jobs; it seems to be a double gamble in that these gulf nations’ “friendship” with us is also, among themselves, a choice between the lesser of two evils. The USA or Iran…..right now it appears the them the we Americans are the less evil.
This whole Muslim/Islamist problem of ours is such a hazardous labyrinth that I’ll take this as yet another opportunity to suggest that we exploit and develop our known energy reserves and impose our own curtain around these troublesome and dangerous, treacherous Muslim/Islamist nations.
We need a Manhattan Project for nearer energy self-sufficiency. I know, easier said than done….but we as a nation seem to lack the necessary sense of urgency in our war against these subversive, aggressive Muslims/Islamists. Our political correctness is lethal.
The Manhattan Project was an example of a massive “Soviet-style” government program designed to solve a specific problem. Apollo was another example. If you’re willing to throw almost unlimited amounts of money at a problem, you can often find a solution. However, the approach almost always ends up with an extremely expensive solution, one that can seldom be susteained.
We don’t need to do that. We have a lot of energy here in the US, we just need to start exploiting it. We have centuries worth of coal and natural gas. They’ve developed fracking technology to extract oil that used to be unobtainable. We have off-shore oil but don’t drill for it. I can’t think of any other country that refuses to exploit its own energy sources. We can build more nuclear power plants, too. It doesn’t require a Manhattan Project, we just need to get the environmentalists out of the way.
I didn’t proof read …..instead of, “….it seems to be a double gamble in that these gulf nations’ “friendship” with us is also, among themselves, a choice between the lesser of two evils. The USA or Iran…..right now it appears the them the we Americans are the less evil.”
…please read:
“…these Gulf nations’ “friendship” with us is also, among themselves, a choice between the lesser of two evils: …the USA or Iran……right now it appears to them that we Americans are the lesser evil. This mutual distrust with money as a trump card is dangerous.”
Moreover:
Those who oppose pipelines and drilling should ask themselves, “Where’s our needed energy to come from?”
its called the Persian Gulf!!!
Hey any of these guys need C-17′s, my company builds major subsections for the C-17 me and my buddies could use a little job longivity.
It’s only a matter of time before these weapons are used against the U.S. and Israel. The Islamic extreme hatred of the west continues to be taught in schools, mosques, and their media everyday. Yet, we pour our tax dollars into their corrupt sinkholes with no agreement from the American people.
And they say Obama does not crate jobs.
We should also sell Saudi Arabia some of the spare nukes we have lying around, we can use the money to bail out Wall Street again or pay the tuition of women’s studies majors. Think of the children!!
Sactions on Iran’s state bank. Weapons sales. Military training with Israel. Special Operations capable osent to the border of Jordan, and Syria. Ummm.
What elce. Stepped up training for other support services? NBC/Chem?
It’s all well and good to have all this fancy hardware, but give me a break kids. You’ve got to be able to use it. The Saudis couldn’t design or manufacture a pocket comb, never mind use this complex military machinery.