Why does Saudi buy Fighter Jets?

Recently, Saudi Arabian defence ministry signed a contract with BAE, the British arms manufacturer, to buy 72 of the new Eurofighter Typhoon jets. The deal itself is worth at least $11.4 billion but the overall cost including maintenance and support over the next 10 years is likely to reach $25 billion. The Saudi family has a long history of buying weapons from Britain having being armed by the colonial power even before the establishment of Saudi Arabia. In recent years they have paid for their weapons in oil.

This deal was a major success for BAE. Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom collaborated to design and build the Typhoon, which is a top of the range fighter jet. It has an exceptionally high power to weight ratio with Rolls Royce engines and a lightweight body giving it outstanding manoeuvrability and speed. It can carry both air to air and air to ground munitions and fared well in recent tests versus the latest US fighter, the F-22 Raptor which is a stealth fighter with the disabilities that brings.

The participating countries had pledged to buy 150 of the planes each and delivery is expected in 2012. The largest other order before the Saudi deal was an Austrian purchase of 18 planes.

The major criticism over the plane was the practicalities of its use. It is intended to battle opposing top range fighter planes and the project began before the end of the cold war when the arms race with the USSR was still in progress. It was designed to fight the latest Russian MIG, not insurgents in Afghanistan or Iraq against whom it is completely useless.

Whilst the Saudi government has spent plenty of the Ummah’s oil money, on waste and extravagance it should be reassuring that they are finally spending on things that this Ummah really needs.

But the timing is not just questionable, it is obscene. Israeli bombing over the last month killed more than a thousand Lebanese civilians and the Saudi regime eventually issued a condemnation but no more. Saudi certainly did not use any of its previous military purchases to defend Lebanese civilians. Meanwhile, weapons were shipped to Israel, via the United Kingdom, to facilitate the Israelis on their barbaric rampage. It begs the question why do they spend so much on arms that they have no intention of using?

Looking further back, when Saddam Hussain invaded Kuwait in 1990 and Saudi felt threatened, they invited the whole world to stage a war against Iraq from Saudi soil. Once again Saudi did not use any of its previous military purchases.

In fact, it would be hard to find an example of the Saudi military having been active in any military arena at all except for defending the Saudi Royal family personally or the occasional parade.

Tony Blair has made it very clear that he considers Israel to be Britain’s closest ally in the region and their struggle against their neighbours to be a just struggle. His government also feels comfortable selling Saudi Arabia 72 of the best fighter planes in the world.

The Saudi government doesn’t really need these planes. They don’t defend themselves, they are defended by Western powers in the region. Neither do they intervene when their mothers and daughters are slaughtered in Lebanon or Iraq. These jets will be polished in their hangers and used for training, but will never see combat.

It helps the British economy and arms industry much more than it will help the Saudi military. Jobs will be sustained, and billions of dollars will be available to pursue the research and development of new weapons, which could be used for Britain’s next invasion. The British government can do all of this, safe in the knowledge that they have sold the planes to a regime that won’t use them keeping their friends in Israel safe.

It is unacceptable that Saudi spends billions of the Ummah’s money on arms yet they are never used when Muslims are attacked. Its high time that the people establish a government that will use its money and military appropriately.

27/08/2006