Germany has allowed the sale of 200 Leopard tanks to Saudi Arabia
after decades of blocking heavy weapons sales to the kingdom, the Der
Spiegel said Saturday.
The federal security council approved the sale last week, the weekly news magazine said without citing sources.
The
Saudis want to buy 200 Leopard 2A7+ tanks in an order potentially worth
billions of euros to companies Kraus-Maffei and Rheinmetall, Der
Spiegel said.
The kingdom was in talks with the Spanish subsidiary
of General Dynamics about buying their version of the Leopard tank, but
the major portion of the order will land with the Germans, the magazine
said.
Since the 1980's, Germany has blocked the sale of Leopard 2
tanks to Saudi Arabia, afraid the equipment would be used against
Israel.
The Saudis are also in talks with US companies for 60
billion dollars worth (41 billion euros) of defence equipment that would
become the largest US contract ever.
The order is to include 84 new F-15 fighter jets and 178 combat helicopters.
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Hope these 2A7+ include the 26AM air-conditioning units and Saab Barracuda camouflage mats to reduce solar loading. As far as I know this is going to be the first sale of Leopard 2 to a country which is mostly desert and extremely high ambient temps.
ReplyDeleteI hope they're not going to be used against unarmed protestors.
ReplyDeleteSaudi Arabia is the weight of political and military in the Middle East, which inhibits of preventing Iran in the region
ReplyDelete