During talks yesterday in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, the two leaders apparently made an agreement in principle on the S-400 Triumph. It is the most advanced long-range surface-to-air system (SAM) available from Russia’s Almaz-Antey Corp.
According to unnamed sources among the negotiators, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is likely to procure “at least four batteries” of the S-400 worth about $2 billion. The Moscow-based Kommersant newspaper reported that other arms deals worth another $1 billion were also agreed to at the meeting.
Should the S-400 deal be concluded later this month, during a meeting of the Saudi-Russian intergovernmental commission on military-technical cooperation, Saudi Arabia will become the third customer for the system after China and Turkey. Beijing signed a firm order for six batteries worth $3 billion in September 2014, and deliveries are due to commence shortly. Turkey signed for four batteries and made a prepayment last month, ahead of first shipments in 2019/2020.
India has signed a memo, but has yet to formalize the deal. Other likely buyers for the system include Algeria and Iran. To accommodate all orders and commitments for the S-400, Almaz-Antey set up an additional assembly line last year.
As though to demonstrate their resolve on the matter, Putin and Salman attended a signing ceremony between Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) and Russia’s state arms export agency Rosoboronexport for a contract to set up license production of Kalashnikov assault rifles and ammunition in the Kingdom. A separate document described as “a memo on purchase and production localization for military equipment” was also signed. That mentions grenade launchers, flame-throwers and the Kornet-EM anti-tank guided missile.
While Moscow has no problem in sharing technologies on these weapons, it is cautious to do so about the S-400, which is also being eyed by SAMI for partial localization. “The S-400 is being discussed, but [the deal] is yet to be formalized,” Oleg Rogozin, Russia’s deputy prime minister responsible for the military-industrial complex, told journalists.
Independent Russian experts remain pessimistic about Saudi Arabia’s intent to buy Russian products in any worthwhile quantities. They note that during the 10-year history of weapons talks with Moscow, Riyadh chose to cancel previous in-principle agreements on two occasions. Each time, the Saudis tried to link their intent to purchase Russian equipment with a demand that Moscow would not supply the same kind of weapons to Iran. In particular, such demands were made about the S-300PMU SAM system and T-72 main battle tanks.
But although the Saudis were unable to prevent deliveries of these weapons to the Islamic Republic, they were able to prevent the intended sale of S-300 SAMs and Islander [NATO codename SS-26 Stone] tactical strike missiles to Syria. Although Russia cancelled these deals, President Putin later expressed his dissatisfaction with “behavior of those who asked for but never fulfilled promises” to purchase these systems for themselves.
Even though Saudi Arabia has been the world's second-largest arms importer after India, purchasing Russian equipment is more a sign of courtesy towards the Kremlin rather than real necessity. The Kingdom buys most of its weapons from the West, and especially from the U.S.
