Saudis To Buy 150 Russian Helos

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Saudis To Buy 150 Russian Helos
$2.2B Deal Seen as Sales And Strategic Watershed
By RIAD KAHWAJI
DUBAI — Saudi Arabia will buy 150 Russian attack and transport helicopters for $2.2 billion, according to Gulf sources.
Analysts called the deal a breakthrough for Moscow in the oil-rich Arabian Gulf market and a move by Riyadh to win support in its nuclear standoff with Iran and other strategic issues.
Under the deal, Russia will supply Mi-8 and Mi-17 transports and Mi-35 attack helicopters, plus spare parts, weapons and related services, one Gulf military official said.
Officials with Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state arms trading agency, declined to confirm or comment on the deal.
Ilya Yakushev, a spokesman for Rosoboronexport subsidiary Oboronprom, which controls the Russian helicopter industry, confirmed that a memorandum of intention had been signed between Russia and Saudi Arabia, but he declined to confirm whether a contract had been inked.
The bid beat a French offer of Eurocopter multirole helicopters, the Gulf official said.
“The fact that this is the first time Saudi Arabia opted for a Russian deal makes it a significant political event,” said Qassem Jaafar, a Doha-based Middle East defense analyst. “This is a major Russian breakthrough to the Gulf region.”
The deal follows two visits to the Arab Gulf region by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first for a Russian leader. In February, Putin talked with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and other senior Saudi officials about potential defense sales to the Western-dominated defense market, Saudi sources said.
Saudi officials are still mulling a $1 billion Russian offer of 150 T-90 tanks plus an unspecified number of armored personnel vehicles.
“The Russians clearly saw an opportunity opening up in the region and moved in to gain on it,” said Theodore Karasik, a Middle East analyst at RAND Corp. in Los Angeles.

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http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3156004&C=airwar
 
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