May 06, 2014: Saudi Shopping Spree: A Hardened, Networked National Guard
by Defense Industry Daily staff
April 23/14: TOW me. Raytheon announces:
by Defense Industry Daily staff
Feb 14/14: LAVs. The Canadian government announces a huge contract, and lets slip that it’s from Saudi Arabia in the footnotes.
by Defense Industry Daily staff
“An international customer signed an agreement with the U.S. Government for a foreign military sale (FMS) of tube-launched, optically tracked, wireless-guided (TOW) missiles to be supplied by Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) in a deal valued at approximately $750 million.
Raytheon plans to deliver nearly 14,000 TOW missiles to the customer over a three-year period beginning in 2015. A resulting order is expected to be executed by the U.S. government with Raytheon in the coming weeks.”
Do they mention the customer? No, they don’t. Are there any other customers with pending orders for “nearly 14,000 TOW missiles” (q.v. Dec 5/13)? No, there aren’t. Keeping the one secret while advertising the other is irrational. Then again, anyone who was willing to give DID $750 million would be allowed to be be irrational, too. Sources: Raytheon, “International customer signs agreement with USG valued at $750 million for Raytheon’s TOW missiles”.
U.S. To Sell More Than 15,000 Missiles To Saudi Arabia In Spite of Recent Terror Attack on Allies
December 8, 2013
by Kevin Lake | News
Saudi Arabia; the lone Middle Eastern nation with whom no one can even begin to explain where the U.S. really stands. Are they friend or foe?
The U.S. Government claims they are our friends, even though 15 out of 19 of the hijackers on 9-11 were from Saudi Arabia, and the terrorists who just killed more than 50 civilians a few days ago in Yemen, a country that is an alleged ally to the U.S., were from Saudi Arabia. Now that just doesn’t sound very friendly, does it?
But the powers that be say they (Saudi Arabia) are our friends. So ignore all the unpleasant facts and call them thus.
Now, with that out of the way, our ‘friends’ the Saudis have just put in an order to buy nearly 16,000 TOW missiles from American defense company Raytheon. This would be a plus for Raytheon share holders, as the transaction would represent nearly 5% of the company’s total annual sales, but who exactly will be on the receiving end of all of those TOW missiles?
TOW missiles are specifically designed to destroy tanks. However, all of the other countries that make up the Middle East combine have nowhere near 16,000 tanks. Iran has less than 2,000, Israel has 4,000 and most of Iraq’s tanks have long ago been destroyed.
Some feel the Saudis are going to work the TOW missiles into Syria to help overthrow the government there, so in essence, the deal, should it go through, is little more than a back door way of the U.S. aiding terrorists, the Al Qaeda fighters in Syria that U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama has labeled “rebels” in the hopes that the masses would see them as the good guys, not the terrorists that they are. At least by arming them through an arms deal such as this one, a U.S. corporation and its share holders will profit from so doing. (Hm- and that’s never happened before, right?)
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has notified Congress of the pending sale, and Congress has 15 days to approve the transaction. Should they not respond, it is considered an approval and the sale will take place.
Hm. Bet it’s not hard to figure out what Congress is going to do. The hard part is finding out who those missiles will be fired upon.
