Saudi Arabia signs $1.7bn defense deal

PARIS: Saudi Arabia has placed a $1.7 billion direct commercial sales contract with Raytheon Company to upgrade the Kingdom's Patriot Air and Missile Defense System to the latest Configuration-3. The award includes ground-system hardware, a full training package and support equipment upgrades.

The announcement came Tuesday at the Paris Air Show where military and commercial deals are done for both military and civilian aircraft and technology.

"Raytheon is honored to provide the most technologically advanced air and missile defense system in the world to Saudi Arabia," said Tom Kennedy, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS). "We are pleased that, with this contract, they have shown further confidence in Raytheon and the superior air and missile defense capabilities of the Patriot system."

Raytheon first supplied the combat-proven Patriot system to Saudi Arabia in the 1990s to protect the nation's critical assets. Subject to customary US regulatory approvals, work under this contract will be performed by Raytheon at the Integrated Air Defense Center in Andover, Massachusetts, and in Saudi Arabia. The newly redesigned Patriot protects against a full range of advanced threats, including aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and UAVs.