US approves $500 million sale to Saudi Arabia of Patriot and HAWK missile system services

Updated January 18

The U.S. State Department approved the sale of Patriot and HAWK missile system services to Saudi Arabia at an estimated cost of $500 million, the Defense Security Cooperation said in a press release.

“The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has requested a possible purchase for continued participation, technical assistance, and support in the Patriot Legacy Field Surveillance Program (FSP); the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3) FSP; and the Patriot Engineering Services Program (ESP),” the Wednesday, January 17 release said.

Patriot and HAWK Missile System spare parts, repairs, and other support is included.

“This proposed sale will support U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives by helping to improve the security of a friendly country which has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic growth in the Middle East,” DSCA added.

The principal contractors are Lockheed Martin for the Field Surveillance Program and Raytheon for the Engineering Services Program.

Documents lodged with the U.S. Congress by the State Department say the Field Surveillance Program programs assist foreign governments to maintain system readiness. They include Stockpile Reliability Test and Missile Recertification programs.

The Engineering Services Program grants access to information including engineering changes in development and under consideration, Post Deployment Build software, and a “comprehensive program to address the issue of loss of sources of supply and advanced technology and their impact on availability of components.”

“A determination has been made that Saudi Arabia can provide substantially the same degree of protection for the sensitive technology being released as the U.S. Government,” the documents say, warning that “the information could be used to develop countermeasures or equivalent systems that might reduce weapon system effectiveness or be used in the development of a system with similar or advanced capabilities.”

The U.S. has approved a number of major arms sales to Saudi Arabia over recent months and a number of contracts have been issued.

Last week, Lockheed subsidiary Sikorsky was awarded a $194 million contract for 17 UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopters for Saudi Arabia.

In December, Raytheon was awarded a $302 million contract to produce 618 AGM-154C Joint Standoff Weapon glide bombs for Saudi Arabia. Later that month, Lockheed Martin won a $945 million contract to produce Patriot missiles for the US, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and Boeing was awarded a $480 million contract for repair support services for Saudi Arabia’s F-15 fleet.

In October, the U.S. approved the sale of the THAAD missile defense system, a deal estimated to be worth $15 billion.

This post was updated on January 18 to include information from documents sent to Congress.