The Obama administration will soon notify Congress of an arms deal with Saudi Arabia worth up to $60 billion, but the kingdom is expected to only initially commit to about half that, a senior US defence official said on Monday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the package would include 84 new Boeing Co F-15 fighter jets and upgrades to another 70 of them.
It would also include 72 Black Hawk helicopters built by Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp. Earlier on Monday, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan said he expected Congress would receive official notification of the long-anticipated Saudi deal within the next week or so. Lapan declined to comment on details, however, saying Congress needed to be notified first. The senior defence official said the US-Saudi arms deal also included 70 of Boeing's Apache helicopters and 36 Little Birds.
The United States and Saudi Arabia were also discussing a package for the kingdom's navy, potentially worth $30 billion, but the timing of that deal was unclear and would not be included in the upcoming congressional notification, the official said.
Upon congressional notification, lawmakers get 30 days to object to the deal. But notifications are usually not sent unless lawmakers have already broadly agreed to the sale. Saudi Arabia was the biggest buyer of US weapons during a four-year span of 2005 through 2008, with $11.2 billion in deals, according to the US Congressional Research Service.