Global Security Newswire

Saudi Arabia has awarded U.S. defense firm Raytheon a $1.7 billion contract for enhancements to the Persian Gulf nation's Patriot missile and air defense platforms, the Boston Globe reported on Wednesday (see GSN, May 19).

The deal calls for Raytheon to bring the Patriot system capabilities up to the most sophisticated level possible under existing technologies. The U.S. company is also to supply new hardware, equipment and training.

"This (contract) is part of what Raytheon has been assuming would make its year and now it's in place," defense analyst Howard Rubel said in New York. "I think it shows that there is a very important cooperative relationship between the U.S. government and Saudi Arabia."

Riyadh is increasingly focused on the implications of Iran's continuing nuclear and missile development (see related GSN story, today).

"Saudi Arabia depends on the U.S. for its own security, and I think that a willingness to continually buy high-ticket items from us, thereby helping sustaining the military-industrial complex, is part of the way that Saudi Arabia stays in the United States' good graces,' Boston University international relations and history professor Andrew Bacevich said (Taryn Luna, Boston Globe, June 22).