Saudi Arabia to build home-grown defence industry — with Western allies
Riyadh — Saudi Arabia aims to build a defence industry at breakneck speed, and it’s ready to look beyond its traditional Western allies for help. The oil-rich kingdom has long been a favourite customer of arms sellers, especially American ones. US President Donald Trump announced $110bn in deals during his trip there last year. Now, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to make weapons at home, and he’s set an ambitious goal: half of Saudi procurement is supposed to be done locally by 2030, from about 2% now. The Saudis will need partners — which means opportunities for Western companies, who were energetically exploring them at an arms fair in Riyadh this week. But there’s a potential catch. For joint ventures to work, US and European governments may have to sign off on transfers of technology. ‘Other partners’ In case they’re reluctant to do so, the Saudis are making it clear that they have other options. They’re already planning to buy the Russian S-400 air-defence system under ...
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