THE BILLION POUND PLEDGE

The visit to London later this month by Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the Saudi Defence Minister and 2nd Deputy Premier, will, once again, focus attention on the biggest deal ever concluded by Saudi Arabia and Britain. The defence deal initiated in 1985 and now known as Al Yamamah Project, was Saudi Arabia's multi-million pound purchase of Tornado combat aircraft, training aircraft, helicopters, mine-hunter ships, the construction in the Kingdom of major defence bases and wide-ranging support and training programmes.