Trump's Saudi arms deal. Fake news?

[Chris0nllyn]

I’ve spoken to contacts in the defense business and on the Hill, and all of them say the same thing: There is no $110 billion deal. Instead, there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but not contracts.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the arms sales wing of the Pentagon, calls them “intended sales.” None of the deals identified so far are new, all began in the Obama administration.

An example is a proposal for sale of four frigates (called multi-mission surface combatant vessels) to the Royal Saudi navy. This proposal was first reported by the State Department in 2015. No contract has followed. The type of frigate is a derivative of a vessel that the U.S. Navy uses but the derivative doesn’t actually exist yet. Another piece is the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system (THAAD) which was recently deployed in South Korea. The Saudis have expressed interest in the system for several years but no contracts have been finalized. Obama approved the sale in principle at a summit at Camp David in 2015. Also on the wish list are 150 Black Hawk helicopters. Again, this is old news repackaged. What the Saudis and the administration did is put together a notional package of the Saudi wish list of possible deals and portray that as a deal. Even then the numbers don’t add up.

Finally, just as the arms deal is not what it was advertised, so is the much-hyped united Muslim campaign against terrorism. Instead, the Gulf states have turned on one of their own. Saudi Arabia has orchestrated a campaign to isolate Qatar. This weekend Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt broke relations with Qatar. Saudi allies like the Maldives and Yemen jumped on the bandwagon. Saudi Arabia has closed its land border with Qatar.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/mark...llion-arms-deal-to-saudi-arabia-is-fake-news/

 

[PJumper]

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/mark...llion-arms-deal-to-saudi-arabia-is-fake-news/

I believe the Saudis made a "Pledge". If they pushed through with it, it would still take months if not years before a contract is formalized.

 

[stgislander]

I seem to recall that when the deal was originally being worked on, the Saudi's got pissed because we were trying to sell them stuff they didn't want (LCS). Then BO pulled his Arab Spring nonsense and the Saudi's said, "Screw it... we'll try again with the next President."

 

[h3mech]

FMS SALES don't happen overnight, they send a letter to the US international programs, they vet the monies needed, then they send it to the proper program office, they in turn check to see if it can come out of inventory, if not it then is put on order to an existing contract. if not and no current contracts, then an order to a defense contractor has to be let which is not something that happens overnite.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/mark...llion-arms-deal-to-saudi-arabia-is-fake-news/

 

[Chris0nllyn]

I believe the Saudis made a "Pledge". If they pushed through with it, it would still take months if not years before a contract is formalized.

I think that's sorta the point of the article.

Do car saleman consider people who say "I'd like to buy one of those Hellcats" a deal?

 

[Gilligan]

Yes, the deal is real. Sure took long enough. First contracts won't be out for some time. We thought the deal was done in 2013...and it fell apart at last minute. It's now finally signed