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U.S. approves $11.25bn warship sale to Saudi Arabia. The Pentagon has notified Congress of a planned sale to Saudi Arabia of as many as four Littoral Combat Ships made by Lockheed Martin Corp. for $11.25 billion, as the U.S. works to bolster defenses of its Gulf allies after the nuclear deal with Iran, Bloomberg reports. The State Department approved the sale under the Foreign Military Sales program, according to a statement Tuesday on the website of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The approval allows the Saudis to negotiate contracts for the ships unless Congress passes legislation to block the deal.
The ships are part of a planned modernization, replacing older U.S.-built vessels in the Royal Saudi Navy’s Eastern Fleet. The sale also begins to deliver on President Barack Obama’s pledge to improve the military capabilities of the U.S.’s Arab allies. Saudi Arabia and other nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council sought such reassurances before acquiescing to the U.S.-led deal with Iran on its nuclear program.
Lawmakers have 30 days to block the sale, although such action is rare since potential deals are carefully vetted before any formal notification takes place, writes Reuters. The approval allows Saudi Arabia and the U.S. government to negotiate a formal contract for the ships, but that process is not expected to be completed before the end of the year, according to a second source who is familiar with the matter.
The sale is part of a larger modernization of the Royal Saudi Navy's Eastern Fleet, and will replace older U.S.-built ships with new ships based on the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) that Lockheed currently builds for the U.S. Navy together with its major supplier, Italy's Fincantieri. The Saudi Naval Expansion Program II, or SNEP II, has been under discussion for years, but U.S. sources say Saudi Arabia's concerns about Iran have accelerated the effort. The sale marks the first major export of a newly built U.S.-manufactured surface naval vessel in years. It will allow the U.S. military to operate more easily together with those of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
