Defense One: Saudi Arabia Responds to Iran Deal: Give Us 600 Patriot Missiles
The Kingdom’s request for additional interceptors could be the first of many new Mideast arms purchases aimed at warding off Iranian missiles.
Just two weeks after Western nations and Tehran struck a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program, the Pentagon says Saudi Arabia wants to buy 600 new Patriot missile interceptors.
The $5 billion-plus purchase is likely just the first of many more as America’s Middle Eastern allies arm themselves in response to the nuclear deal, which would lift Iran’s conventional-arms embargo sanctions in five years and sanctions on long-range missile projects in eight.
“We saw this coming,” said Thomas Karako, a missile defense expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “This is the consequence of leaving the Iranian missile program intact and in fact signaling sanctions will go down on it.”
Update: Saudi Arabia Requests $5.4 Billion Worth of PAC-3 Missiles -- DoD Buzz
WNU Editor: Turkey is also on the market for missile interceptors .... Turkey May Renegotiate Air Defense Deal With China (Defense News). I guess the Middle East arms race is now on.
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