Saudi Arabia: Defence co-operation defines UK-Saudi relations

The Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) described defence co-operation as underpinning the entire UK-Saudi relationship. The UK is one of the three largest defence equipment suppliers to Saudi Arabia, alongside France and the US, supporting major defence sales directly through government-to-government contracts. “It is hard to obtain exact figures as to the volume of defence trade as the government restricts the supply of some information; however, the UK has granted export licences for almost £4bn ($6.5bn) worth of defence equipment over the last five years,” an FAC report on UK relations with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain released on 22 November said (see main story).