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Bell has begun building the 12 AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters destined for the Bahrain Air Force. A Bahraini delegation visited Bell’s Amarillo, Texas facility on 12 April to mark the start of production.

The United States is to press ahead with the sale of 50 F-35 fighter jets to the UAE. The deal which was notified to Congress by then President Donald Trump last October, but which was subsequently put on hold when his successor Joe Biden took office.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoganğhas said Saudi Arabia is seeking to buy more armed drones from Turkey. He told a 16 March press conference the request was being made even as Riyadh took part in military exercises with Ankara’s foe Greece. “Saudi Arabia is conducting joint exercises with Greece… Yet at the same time, Saudi Arabia is asking us for armed drones,” Erdogan said. “ Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 jets arrived on Crete on 13 March to take part in the Falcon Eye 1 exercise with the Greek Air Force.

 One local company that scooped multi-million dirham contracts at the International Defence Exhibition (Idex) is Abu Dhabi-based International Golden Group (IGG), which has long been connected to the powerful UAE national security advisor Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed’s Royal Group. IGG signed deals worth some Dh1.492bn ($405.3m) at Idex; the UAE Armed Forces will buy drones worth Dh33.3m, “weaponry and munitions” at Dh485m, 122mm rockets for Dh285m and “ammunition and weapons” worth Dh689.1m. IGG, which has dozens of subsidiaries focused on defence, security and technology, has been a big winner at previous editions of Idex. It has agreements with prominent international companies such as Leonardo.

The annual industry blockbuster, the International Defence Exhibition (Idex), opened in Abu Dhabi on 21 February and ran until 25 February. Some Dh21bn ($5.7bn) worth of deals were announced by the UAE Armed Forces alone. That was slightly up on the last Idex in 2019 (it is a biannual event), when $5.4bn worth of deals were signed, which allowed organisers to hail the event as a success. Not everything went quite to plan. There was a distinct lack of senior US officials and American defence firms kept a low profile in the wake of President Joe Biden’s decision to freeze weapons sales to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, pending a review.

A number of governments in liberal economies are coming under pressure to justify their past and current policies of providing quipment to Riyadh in the wake of the US decision to freeze weapons sales to Saudi Arabia. Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told the British House of Commons on 8 February: “I encourage the UK to fully align ourselves with our closest security ally by ending arms exports connected to the war.”

Public Investment Fund subsidiary Saudi Arabian Military Industries (Sami) on 10 February announced that its joint venture with United States defence firm L3Harris Technologies was now fully operational. The statement came just days after President Joe Biden announced a freeze on US arms sales to the kingdom.

Air Force commander Lieutenant General Shihab Jahid Hama has insisted Iraqi technicians will be able to maintain its F-16 aircraft if and when international contractors finally leave the country. This followed an official US report that indicated local pilots refused to fly the jets when American technicians were absent last year. The National Iraqi News Agency quoted Hama on 13 February as saying “the Iraqi pilots and technicians working on these aircraft are at the top of professionalism… and they are doing their job right now.”

State defence group Edge has signed a strategic co-operation agreement with two state-owned Ukrainian firms, defence conglomerate UkrOboronProm and arms trading company Ukrspecexport, which it said could lead to over $1bn-worth of investments.

The Royal Saudi Naval Force (RSNF) inducted its new Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk helicopters into its fleet at a late December ceremony, overseen by RSNF commander Lieutenant General Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Ghufaili and Eastern Fleet deputy commander Rear Admiral Ahmed Al-Buraikan.

Spanish shipbuilder Navantia has launched the second of the five corvettes it is building for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) under the Al-Sarawat programme.

The US State Department’s decision to proceed with a $10bn sale of 50 F-35 fighter jets to the UAE suggests that President Donald Trump is keen to push the deal through before his departure from office, helping to underpin his Middle East settlement.

The Royal Saudi Navy (RSNF) has taken delivery of the second and third consignment of a projected 39-strong fleet of Interceptor HS132 fast patrol boats, built by French company CMN and Saudi partner Zamil Offshore Services in Dammam.

Fincantieri patrol vessel launch The technical launch of the first of two offshore patrol vessels ordered from Fincantieri took place on 18 September at the Italian company’s Muggiano shipyard.

Tehran is planning to sell its domestically manufactured defence equipment to other countries once the UN arms embargo on the country expires in October, according to defence minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami. In an interview carried in the Iran newspaper, he said “We will surely use our legal right [to export arms] in dealing with our allies once the restrictions are lifted.”