Royal Saudi Air Force

Saudi Arabia boasts the best equipped and funded armed forces in the Gulf region. The country is one of the world’s largest arms importers and its defence spending has increased by 20% over the last five years or so, with further increases planned. Most significantly, during a visit to the Kingdom by US President Donald Trump on May 20, agreements worth $110bn were signed with the US for a wide variety of defence capabilities to be conveyed via FMS letters of offer and acceptance and a memorandum of intent to support Saudi Arabia’s defence needs. It comes at a time when Saudi Arabia is fighting a proxy war with Iran over Yemen where the latter is supporting Houthi rebels who ousted the government in January 2015, and facing down the threat of jihadi groups.

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