IDEX 2009 : Saudi Arabia nears Tornado weapons package

Saudi Arabia is poised to order an array of new weapons to equip upgraded Tornado strike aircraft. The package will include the potent Storm Shadow cruise missile already operational with the Royal Air Force.

The deal, worth hundreds of millions of Euros, was expected to be signed last year but has now slipped into 2009. Delivery schedules will be led by the cruise missile. That will be followed by the ASRAAM short range air-to-air weapon and Brimstone anti-armour missile said sources familiar with the deal. The source said the deal is ready to be signed. All the weapons are made by leading European missile builder MBDA.

A spokesman for the company declined to comment on the deal at the IDEX defense show here in Abu Dhabi. The only surprise in the package is the inclusion of the ASRAAM missile. Currently the only known users of the weapon are British and Australian fighters. British Tornado aircraft upgraded to the current GR4 standard are capable of carrying the old Sidewinder missile.

The Saudi’s are currently upgrading some 80 Tornado aircraft as part of a sustainment program worth in excess of 2 billion Pound. Much of that work is being done in-country as part of BAE’s drive to raise industrial capabilities there. The Raytheon Paveway IV precision guided bomb which recently came into service with British air force and naval Harrier strike aircraft has also been cited as a potential purchase. The Tornados were purchased in the mid-1980s as part of the Al Yamamah oil- for- weapons deal between the British and Saudi governments.

A deal to improve the hitting power of the Tornado is expected to be followed by the signature of a weapons package to be fitted to the 72 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft purchased by the Saudis in a 2007 deal. MBDA boss Antoine Bouvier told Defense News Show Scout earlier this week that talks have not begun yet on missiles to arm the Saudi fighters. The first aircraft is scheduled to be delivered to the Saudi’s in the middle of the year and pilots are already in training with the RAF.

However, the Financial Times reported last week that BAE Systems expected to agree a multi-billion pound deal to provide support and weapons systems for the Typhoon aircraft this year. Typhoon will carry the same weapons as Tornado. That would allow the Saudi’s to draw weapons from the same pool should they choose to do so. The only exception to that is the use of Raytheon’s AIM-120 AMRAAM missile for beyond visual range engagements.
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Posted in: Fighter jet,IDEX,Saudi Arabia