£40bn Saudi fighter jet deal brings RAF shortage f

[sigatoka]

Could you repeat that?

I meant they flew "more" as in a greater number of modern planes. F-16's and Mig-29 count as modern.

 

[MOO]

I guess in every arms contract in the world nowadays deals with scandals and fraud. They ask for 40 billion for Typhoons but in fact its more like 20 billion for the New jets and the other 20B goes into the pockets of those family members who rule the kingdom, ala Prince and Princess.:wall:

 

[sigatoka]

For the amount Saudi is spending and has spent over the last 13years, they have been fully ripped off. Where are the Aircraft Carriers or thousands of modern battle tanks or hundreds of modern aircraft that should have been bought with the defence budget they had.

 

[RAPTOR]

For the amount Saudi is spending and has spent over the last 13years, they have been fully ripped off. Where are the Aircraft Carriers or thousands of modern battle tanks or hundreds of modern aircraft that should have been bought with the defence budget they had.

Its their Money...and their Oil. They can do whatever they want with it.The Saudis are not stupid..they know what they are doing so just let them be. The neighbourhood they live in is Dangerous! Israel,Iraq,Iran! need i say more?

If you are talking about putting their petro-dollars to better use...then i can name another country that spends $20 billion a year on its "defense" and has 600 million people living below the poverty line with no access to clean water or toilets..!!

Besides that...............the Saudis havent purchased any new jets since the 72 F-15s deal back in the early 90's. So give them a break dude..

 

[Bull]

then i can name another country that spends $20 billion a year on its "defense" and has 600 million people living below the poverty line with no access to clean water or toilets..!!

name one country that has 600 mn leaving below the poverty line.

 

[RAPTOR]

I meant they flew "more" as in a greater number of modern planes. F-16's and Mig-29 count as modern.

Wrong again! Egypt's F-16s arent that modern and when did Egypt get Mig-29s??? lol. Saudi Airforce is the most modern in the middle east after Israel's.

 

[sigatoka]

Wrong again! Egypt's F-16s arent that modern and when did Egypt get Mig-29s??? lol. Saudi Airforce is the most modern in the middle east after Israel's.

I disagree but the difference isnt big in the Air. It is truely huge in terms of ground forces. Saudi has few heavy mortars or Artillery and fewer tanks and APCS and IFV's. Egypt also has many more anti-aircraft pieces. Egypt is universally acknoldged as the most powerful Arab army.

 

[sigatoka]

when did Egypt get Mig-29s??? lol.

Egypt does have Mig-29's.

 

[sigatoka]

One word, 19Billion U.S. dollars, thats what Saudis spent in 2005. Israel= 12billion and Egypt spent 4billion.

Israel and Egypt because they use conscripted troops (100,000 200,000 respectively) undercost the cost of the military to the economy. One could increase Israels budget by ($10,000 * 100,000) $1 billion and Egypts by (200,000*$2,000) $400 million.

So its Saudis 19b vs israels 13b and egypts 4.4b. Even taking into account this fact shows that Saudis have bought weapon systems from U.S. at inflated prices while Egypt, Turkey, and Israel have gotten the same things much cheaper.

It is now changing with the Saudis bargaining much harder than they used to. The collapse of the Soviet Union and development of China has been good because it has added two new military suppliers in addition to U.S. and europe. (Saudi couldnt buy from Soviet bec. Communist, for eg Mexico buying jets from Soviets was unthinkable but from Russia is just business).

My whine was that the saudis had overpaid but i am also aware that this will no longer be the case in future. Nations which dont manufacture military equipment will no longer be fleeced and overcharged by monopolistic U.S. and Europe.

 

[lamdacore]

I live in Saudi Arabia and believe me these Saudis don't care much of 40B of arms sales. Hell they don't even know about it!!!.

However, there is one thing though i.e. if our Saudi brothers get these high-tech weapons then I can assure you that somewhere in the near future there might be chance that they want us to use their weapons and help them in training with it. We will have experience in the latest weaponry and even know their limitations.

Also, i agree that this is all political rather than an objective to defend KSA. Remember, the deal they made for the Al-Khalid tanks?? As far i rememer they were to pay $600M for the deal. That is awfully a lot of tanks and perhaps way to expensive. I mean how can we make such an expensive tank. The saudis are helping us indirectly by buying our weapons for such a high price.

So i think that these deals should continue because sooner or later we might just be using instead.

 

[melb4aust]

Why would they go for Typhoons , if they are ready to spend that much money. They could have forced US to sell them Raptor. I wouldnt like to compare Raptor with typhoon, you all know about it.

 

[Neo]

Why would they go for Typhoons , if they are ready to spend that much money. They could have forced US to sell them Raptor. I wouldnt like to compare Raptor with typhoon, you all know about it.

Relationship between Riadh and Washington is not the same after 9/11 events.
US has removed its military bases from Saudi Arab to Qatar, I can understand that the Saudi's don't want to rely too much on the US for defence as the relationship might deteriorate in future.

 

[melb4aust]

Relationship between Riadh and Washington is not the same after 9/11 events.

Can they trust on Brits either , tricky stuff hmmnn.
There is one simple thing, and i always hate and afraid to say it, "White people hate arabs". No wonder, how good they can be on the face. Thats what i have seen, thats what they show in their movies as well. They use to say indirectly before, but not any more as they have a full control over the media.

I call this, "brainwashing" of audience.:idiot: