Sale of more than 200 tanks Leopard 2E to Saudi Arabia

[mshoaib61]

Spain negotiates the sale of more than 200 tanks Leopard 2E to Saudi Arabia..

According to some Spanish sources(Newspapers like "El País" for example) our gouvernment would be negociating at present a possible sale of 200-270 tanks Leopard 2E to Saudi Arabia.

The contract would reach an amount of 3 billion Euros approximately.Due to the current economic and financial difficulties in Spain,our Ministry of Defense would be thinking to reduce the number of tanks in service in 50 units which would be directly transferred in 2011 to this aformentioned country.The remaining tanks of this possible contract would be built in Spain by General Dynamics Santa Bárbara.The Germans, as technologists and patent owners of the tank,would have an economic return of the 30% of the total amount of this hypothetical contract.


Madrid - Spain is negotiating with Saudi Arabia what could become its biggest ever arms deal, the daily El Pais said Monday.
The deal, estimated to be worth more than 3 billion euros (4.2 billion dollars), would involve the sale of up to 270 Leopard 2E tanks made in Seville by Santa Barbara, a Spanish affiliate of the US defence conglomerate General Dynamics, according to El Pais.
'We neither confirm nor deny this information,' a spokesman for the Defence Ministry commented.
Spain was hoping to seal the deal during the visit in early November of Saudi Defence Minister Khaled bin Sultan, who is pushing for the modernization of the Saudi armed forces, the daily said.
Bin Sultan was expected to meet Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and King Juan Carlos.
Spain is already cooperating with the Saudi armed forces by training Saudi pilots at the military base of Moron de la Frontera near Seville.
The United States recently announced an arms deal with Saudi Arabia worth up to 60 billion dollars that included advanced fighter jets, helicopters, missiles and other weaponry and equipment.
The deal with one of the closest US allies in the Middle East was the largest US arms deal ever.
España negocia la venta de más de 200 carros de combate a Arabia Saudí · ELPAÍS.com

 

[Jigs]

Is SA preparing for war ? Leopard2Es are some of the most advanced MBTs out right now.

 

[K^se]

Is SA preparing for war ? Leopard2Es are some of the most advanced MBTs out right now.

Actually they are the most advanced MBT in the world, I would prefer them over the Challenger from Britain and our own Abrams. German technology at its finest..

 

[muse]

Great question - since they will never raise a finger against israel, it is really very curious that so much weaponry is being amassed - to be used against whom?

and it's interesting that so much money is not being invested in propositions with real returns such as jobs for Saudis - it's really curious.

 

[Jigs]

Actually they are the most advanced MBT in the world, I would prefer them over the Challenger from Britain and our own Abrams. German technology at its finest..

I didn't want to be too biased . The L/55 Gun on these rock.

 

[desiman]

Just one question - why ?

 

[somebozo]

last year they purchased 500 T's from Russia..not from England...are they shouldering the economic recovery of west or preparing for war?

 

[Kambojaric]

Just one question - why ?

I think thats the question the whole world is asking right now! Why? Will be used against whom? They planning to take over the lil arab countries around them or something? behold the rise of a new arab empire

 

[Jungibaaz]

Just one question - why ?

Exactly what I thought!

Eurofighters
F-15s
Apache Ah-64D
Black Hawks
M1 Abrams
and now Leopard 2E

WHY?

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Exactly what I thought!

Eurofighters
F-15s
Apache Ah-64D
M1 Abrams
and now Leopard 2E

WHY?

For real. Lol. Damn they are arming up...About to be the strongest Muslim country I am sure of it.

 

[1000VA]

Just one question - why ?

Just one Answer Iran

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Just one Answer Iran

I dont think so.

Even if yes..... they il still be defeated Saudi army is tough u know.

 

[Vassnti]

Why, we could make a little list.

Eygpt, close friend, close military ties , joint opperations.
Turkey, close friends with a long history and curently getting closer.
Yemen, border disputes but nothing that takes the worlds 2 bigggest military purchases to solve.
Syria, not a happy relationship but the chances of Saudi invasion of Syria have to be almost nil.
Israel, calls for Israel to withdraw from Palestinian land but isnt going to war to make it happen.
Lebanon, see Syria
UAE, fragile relationship, recent naval conflicts, rapid military build up, border disputes, perhaps a possible but seeing both countries are playing nice in public a low possibility.
Kuwait, Oman,Quatar,Bahrain no military chalenge.

That leaves just two serious possibles, Iran and Iraq, in this case they may almost amount to the same thing. If Saudi Arabia wants to move into Iraq they will want to do so with enough force to discourage Iran from doing the same. Even having the ability to with out actually doing so gives them a chance to negotiate from a position of strength.

From Riyadh's perspective, a stable and strong Iraq was a threat to the kingdom's security but at least had long balanced Tehran's influence -- a balance that ended after the United States toppled Saddam from power. Saudis have looked on with dismay as groups linked to Tehran gained power through the electoral system the United States established. Today, as the United States considers its options in the face of a bloody insurgency and growing sectarian strife, the Saudis see Iran's clerical leaders as vultures circling around the corpse of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated Iraq.

Compounding the Saudis' fears about the region is the threat of unrest at home. As sectarian war increasingly dominates Iraq, religious tensions inside the kingdom are growing. Saudi Sunnis, many of whom see the Shiites as apostates, hear horror stories of atrocities committed by Shiite militias in Iraq and are agitating for Saudi intervention to protect Iraqi Sunnis. Saudi Arabia's long-suffering minority Shiite population, in turn, sees the carnage that Sunni suicide bombers are wreaking in Iraq against Shiites, and fears that hard-won reforms in its favor over the last 15 years may be reversed.

As Obaid's shrill warning suggests, the Saudis have many reasons to fear Iran. The opposing countries' struggle for dominance in the region goes back decades and draws on a deep well of sectarian hatred. Even before the mullahs seized power in Tehran in 1979, Riyadh and Tehran competed for geopolitical influence in the Persian (or, as the Saudis would say, the "Arabian") Gulf. With the ascent of Ayatollah Khomeini's clerical regime, however, the competition became far nastier. Both countries portrayed themselves as defenders of the faith and based their political legitimacy on their religious bona fides. The difference was more than just Sunni vs. Shiite, or Arab vs. Persian: Iran purported to represent revolutionary Islam. Like many leftist movements, the new regime proclaimed it would aid the "dispossessed" against wealthy and supposedly exploitative Western powers. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, was a status quo state that had a cozy relationship with Washington and other Western powers. Khomeini regularly ridiculed the Saudi regime, and other Iranian leaders called for its downfall. Its leaders were corrupt and profligate. Khomeini leveled the ultimate insult: Saudi Islam was "American Islam."

Saudi Arabia's own Iraq nightmare - Iraq war - Salon.com

 

[BATMAN]

Just one Answer Iran

recently indian army chief has issued statement that once he will be done with big irritant country (Pakistan) lesser irritant states (SA) will fall easily.

This tank buying news is a followup.

 

[NWO]

It has to be Iran/Iraq. No one else, at least not in that region.

Unless they are thinking globally.