Russia and Saudi Arabia Reach $10 Billion Arms Deal
According to sources in the top management in defense enterprises, Russia is preparing to sell arms to Saudi Arabia; the demand is due to the current conflicts in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia has long relied on purchases of arms from NATO countries and the US. Now it has expressed interest in Russian missile boats, patrol ships near the sea area, medium landing ships and patrol ships. There are other serious developments as well, sources say.
The Saudis are allegedly negotiating the acquisition of operational-tactical missile complexes "Iskander-E" and may have confirmed readiness to begin pre-contract negotiations about the purchase of several divisions of C-400s. In preparation for the next visit of Saudi King Salman, the Russian Federation is expected to prepare a package proposal for about $10 billion. This proposal will provide for the supply of aircraft and munitions as well as several types of defense systems of various ranges.
In addition, in 2016 Russia will concentrate on supplying arms to countries in the Asia-Pacific region (Indonesia, Malaysia) and the financially strong countries of Africa (Angola, Uganda). According to a senior source in the government, even if some of the negotiations fail, the arms exports are expected to yield about $14-$15 billion in 2016.
During the last meeting of the Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation with foreign countries, held in late October 2015, Vladimir Putin said that the portfolio of orders of the enterprises of the Russian defense industry exceeds $50 billion. He called for even more active promotion of their products in regional markets.
According to the Federal Service for Military-technical Cooperation, over the last 11 years exports of Russian arms have grown threefold, from about $5 billion to $15.3 billion. However, despite an impressive list of 60 countries with which Russia has solid contracts the main profit comes from five or six major players.
The results of 2015 have not yet been officially presented. It is known that as of December 1st, the profit from military products supplied abroad was $11.6 billion and the portfolio had expanded to $57 billion.
In early November 2015, Sergey Chemezov, the Head of the State Corporation "Rostec” said that "Rosoboronexport" was ahead of schedule in supplying arms to foreign countries. "The plans for this year are 12.8 billion dollars. But we redoubled these plans,” Chemezov said.