Arms deal for Arab allies approved by the Trump admin. will allow US hi-tech bomb parts to be manufactured in Saudi Arabia, giving Riyadh unprecedented access to a sensitive weapons technology.
Lawmakers opposed to the deal said the production scheme sent the wrong signal to Saudi Arabia given its human rights record and its air war in Yemen, raised security concerns about sharing so-called"smart bomb" technology with Riyadh and undercut one of President Donald Trump's arguments for selling weapons to the Saudis — to generate jobs in the United States.
Menendez held up the sale of 120,000 precision-guided bombs for Saudi Arabia and the UAE last year because of numerous accounts of civilian casualties from Saudi-led air raids in Yemen. The senator has said the administration failed to persuade him that selling more of the so-called"smart" bombs would prevent more civilian deaths.
"To think that we would co-produce these bombs and in turn contribute to an arms race, regional instability, and civilian deaths is unfathomable," Murphy said."Congress needs to put a stop to the way we do business with the Saudis and start acting like the senior partner in this relationship rather than succumbing to whatever the kingdom wants."
Displays of missiles stand at the Raytheon International Inc. chalet on day two of the Farnborough International Airshow 2018 in Farnborough, U.K., on July 17, 2018.The deal fits in with Saudi Arabia's long term economic plan, Saudi Vision 2030, which calls for the country to dramatically increase its domestic arms production."They are trying to build up their own military manufacturing base," Hartung said.
"Local work share is a common practice used in the majority of aerospace and defense exports around the world," spokesman Mike Doble said in an email. Raytheon has a number of other international co-production arrangements that are all approved by the U.S. government and adhere to U.S. arms export regulations, he said.
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