The Obama administration has notified Congress of plans for a multiyear, multibillion-dollar weapons deal with Saudi Arabia, a State Department official said Wednesday.
The sale is meant to further align the Saudi military relationship with the United States and enhance the ability of the kingdom to defer and defend threats to it and its oil structure, which “is critical to our economic interests,” said Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary for political and military affairs, at a State Department news conference.
The deal, worth up to $60 billion over 20 years, will include the sale of 84 F-15 aircraft, the upgrade of 70 older-model F-15 aircraft and almost 200 helicopters.
Congress has 30 days to raise any objections to the deal.
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(Source: CNN)
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3 Responses
Somehow I suspect this is also about insuring that America has a steady, oil supply. Why we can’t supply ourselves with crude is another question.
This probably also is to strengthen the Saudis against a potential invasion from Iran, which has a much larger military. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Your sister,
The US may not have enough oil reserves left to supply our own needs — most of the known oil fields are declining in production now. It is technologically possible to increase oil production from marginal fields and by manufacturing synthetic petroleum from coal, but those methods are not economical today. Would Americans be willing to pay $10 for a gallon of gasoline just so that we can produce all the petroleum domestically? Probably not. And the extraction of coal from the ground is very dangerous for miners and for the environment.
FWIW the US gets more oil from Mexico and Canada than from Saudi Arabia.