Defence & Security

Raytheon awarded US$156m to upgrade Kuwait's Patriot air and missile defence capabilities

Raytheon Company has received a US$156 million Foreign Military Sales award from the US Army to provide the State of Kuwait with Patriot Configuration-3 radar upgrade kits and related engineering and technical services.

"There continues to be a growing demand, both domestically and internationally, for Raytheon's combat-proven Patriot system," said Sanjay Kapoor, vice president, Patriot Programs for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. "This award for the State of Kuwait is an additional indication of the continued expansion of Patriot as the cornerstone of the US and the international partners' integrated air and missile defence systems."

Russia, Saudi Arabia prepare several big arms contracts

The signing of several large arms contracts will fill a Russian-Saudi Arabian military-technical cooperation agreement with specific content, a source with the Russian defence industry said. "This issue was touched upon during the talks of the Russian leadership with Secretary-General of the Saudi Arabian National Security Council Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud," the source said. "The contracts, which have recently been worked on, could be the specific filling of this agreement at the initial stage," he said.

It was reported earlier that Russia and Saudi Arabia have been in active talks on the delivery of 150 of the latest T-90S tanks, over 100 Mi-35, Mi-17 and Mi-28NE helicopters, as well as Buk-M2E medium range air defence systems and several hundreds of BMP-3 armoured personnel carriers.

GCC should seek regional security strategy

GCC states must reinforce their ability to deter intervention in their affairs by large regional neighbours and extra-regional powers such as the US and the UK, according to a book published by a UAE think-tank.

Of 21 countries in and around the Gulf, only 3 do not have any overt military presence. The US has a presence in 13 of these countries, the UK in 9 and other external powers also have military presences in 9 countries, according to the book titled Arabian Gulf Security: Internal and External Challenges.

Boeing, Qatar announce C-17 Globemaster III order

Boeing and the government of Qatar signed an agreement for the purchase of the C-17 Globemaster III airlifter to provide new strategic-airlift mobility capabilities for the Qatar Armed Forces (QAF). Qatar will sign a Foreign Military Sales agreement for contractor logistics support with the US Air Force.

Boeing will begin deliveries from its Long Beach, Calif., C-17 factory, in summer 2009.