Spain, Saudi Regime Sign $991 Million Defense Deal

Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) and Spanish shipbuilder Navantia signed a $991 million deal to adapt Navantia’s combat management systems for Saudi navy corvette ships.

An announcement, reported by the Saudi state news agency SPA, stated that the contract was signed earlier in the week at the Defense and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2019 exhibition at London’s ExCeL.

The collaboration on Combat System Integration (CSI) on the Saudi navy’s Avante 2200 corvettes is thought to be part of the kingdom’s modernization program, Vision 2030, which will have the “potential to boost the localisation of the Kingdom’s technology capabilities by up to 60% and benefit other Saudi organizations,” SPA reported.

The SAMI-Navantia joint venture comes at a time of growing criticism of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen and the supply of arms by Western states, including the US, France and the UK – who all may be complicit in war crimes, according to a UN report.