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- No entry: The United States does not allow competitors to enter the arms market in the Middle East
No entry: The United States does not allow competitors to enter the arms market in the Middle East
The United States has demanded an explanation from Saudi Arabia about Riyadh's plans to purchase a fifth-generation KAAN fighter jet from Turkey. Ankara expects to conclude the contract this year. Washington, accustomed to supplying weapons to the Persian Gulf countries alone, considers the emergence of competitors in this market dangerous. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
The allies were chastised
"Negotiations between Riyadh and Ankara over Saudi Arabia's purchase of the Turkish KAAN aircraft irritate the Trump administration, which believes that deals with countries such as Turkey could reduce the US share of the kingdom's arms market," the British newspaper The Middle East Eye reports, citing American officials.
Washington is trying to get Saudi colleagues to clarify their negotiations with other countries in the region on the possible purchase of weapons, as the United States seeks to cover the military needs of its allies in the Persian Gulf alone, the publication notes.
The Saudi authorities assure the Americans that their interest in Turkish military products is driven by a desire to expand the number of suppliers. This is not an attempt to replace the United States, because it cannot be done. However, the Trump administration considers the Turks to be competitors and fears that Saudi Arabia is seeking to distance itself in this way.
Fans of flirting with US rivals
Riyadh has long sought to diversify its arms suppliers. Earlier, he became interested in Pakistani-Chinese multirole fighter jets JF-17, promising Islamabad to buy them. Then the United States intervened and, after unequivocal warnings from Washington, Saudi Arabia refused the contract.
— On the one hand, the Chinese-Pakistani aircraft was not manufactured by the American NATO allies. On the other hand, the way the Americans treat their allies is also quite revealing, so I'm not sure that the Turks will be able to fully push through contracts for the supply of military equipment," said Danila Krylov, a researcher at the Department of the Middle and Post—Soviet East at the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
As The Middle East Eye notes, Riyadh likes to flirt with US competitors in order to obtain concessions from Washington.
"During Donald Trump's first term as president, the kingdom experimented with Russian S-400 systems before acquiring the THAAD air defense system. Such flirtations provoked an angry reaction from the American administration at the time," the publication says.
It is possible that Saudi Arabia is now "flirting" with Turkey, thus seeking to obtain advanced F-35 fighter jets from Washington, while at the same time establishing new partnerships to deter Israel and the UAE.
Last November, President Donald Trump, hosting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House, announced the conclusion of a major strategic agreement with Saudi Arabia in the field of defense, and also promised to sell the kingdom modern F-35 fighter jets.
Moreover, this time Turkey offers the kingdom something new that the United States could not provide — joint production and technology transfer. And this fits into the Vision 2030 program of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In particular, it stipulates that 50% of the kingdom's defense spending should be directed to locally produced products.
Play the Turkish card
In February, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a visit to Saudi Arabia that an agreement on joint investments in the KAAN project "can be signed at any time." The fighter model was also presented at the World Defense Exhibition in Riyadh, which took place this month.
According to Mehmet Demiroglu, CEO of the aircraft manufacturer Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), as part of the deal with Turkey, the kingdom may receive from 20 to 50 combat aircraft. The format of the agreement is being discussed, and it may be concluded as early as this year.
— But do not forget that the Turkish KAAN combat aircraft are prototypes, they are not flying yet, they need engines that will allow them to become fifth—generation fighters. A deal on the purchase of a General Electric engine has been discussed between Ankara and Washington for several years, but has not yet passed through Congress," a source close to Turkish diplomatic circles told Izvestia.
The World Defense Show in Riyadh
So far, only Israel has such facilities in the Middle East, allowing the country to "maintain its qualitative military superiority over its neighbors." The Israeli lobby in the United States is actively trying to prevent Saudi Arabia from receiving these fighter jets. In particular, in November last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had promised him to supply Riyadh with F-35 fighter jets inferior to Israeli ones.
"It is quite possible that by its actions the kingdom will still achieve modern American fighters, since the US authorities seek to dominate all transactions, because the Middle Eastern kingdom is a market that they do not want to share with anyone," the source admitted.
A matter of prestige
Danila Krylov, in a conversation with Izvestia, noted that in the Middle East region, only Turkey, Iran and Israel actually produce their own military products.
"The Arabs don't particularly buy Iranian products, and there are questions about how independent Iran is technically, given that Tehran buys some of its equipment from Russia, China and other players," the political scientist noted.
At the same time, he added that Israel produces a lot of equipment for itself, including F-35 aircraft, but Turkey also produces a lot of different weapons.
— These are not only Bayraktar drones, but also Altai tanks, KAAN planes, armored personnel carriers, Kirpi armored vehicles, etc. The Turks have a lot of their own equipment, this is due to their foreign policy ideologies and ambitions. In particular, with long-cherished plans to transform the Organization of Turkic states from a political into a military—political structure," the expert noted.
According to the expert, the Americans can conditionally compete only with Turkey. And rather, Ankara will compete with Washington.
— At the same time, there are Russian and Chinese equipment. Russia supplies high—tech products, including to the Middle East," the analyst emphasized.
Krylov emphasized that the Saudis occupy the first place in the world in the purchase of weapons and military equipment. At the same time, a significant part of them do not fit each other.
— The issue of supplying American F-35s is purely political, it is a matter of prestige and a certain level of relations. Currently, only Israel has these planes, and it is doing its best to block the supply of this model to the Saudis. But whether it will be possible to save the Turkish deal is a very debatable issue, although for Turks, military-technical cooperation with Saudi Arabia would clearly be a good way to replenish the state budget," the political scientist summed up.
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