The Pentagon states that over 130 Abrams tanks, 20 armored vehicles, and other equipment are going to be shipped to Saudi Arabia – with a cool price of about $1.15 billion being billed to them.
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It added that General Dynamics, an American aerospace and defense corporation, would be the principal contractor.
According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), Riyadh had requested the possible purchase of up to 133 American M1A1/A2 Abrams tanks that would be configured to Saudi needs, plus another 20 to replace damaged tanks in their fleet.
The potential FMS includes 153 M1A1/A2 Abrams tank structures to be converted to 133 Saudi variants and 20 battle-damage replacements, as well as 20 M88A l/A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift Evacuation System (HERCULES) Armored Recovery Vehicles (ARV), the August 9 notice states. The package would include the tanks and engineering vehicles, armaments, ammunition, training and support.
The announcement coincided with news that Saudi-led coalition warplanes had resumed air strikes on Yemen’s capital for the first time in three months, killing 14 people and shutting the airport after UN-brokered talks were suspended.
The potential sale to Saudi Arabia still faces approval by Congress, which could block it. The Saudis intervened after the Houthi forced the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile in March 2015. Saudi Arabia claims that the Houthis – who are Shia Muslims – are proxies of Iran, which Tehran has categorically denied.
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While the Saudi coalition established air superiority over Yemen fairly early on, its ground forces appear to have suffered considerable casualties in the fighting, and have been unable to dislodge the Houthis from the northern and western parts of the country.
