The Reason Why Saudi Arabia Simply Can't Buy Weapons Elsewhere
22 October 2018, 10:15
Saudi Arabia would not be able to replace their weapons systems if Britan and America stop supplies, a Middle East researcher claims.
Researcher and author David Wearing told Nick Ferrari that Saudi Arabia would not be able to 'easily switch' to a new weapons supplier if Britain and the United States were to stop supplies.
"We don't just supply the planes, we supply the ability to continue operating those weapons systems on a daily basis," he said.
"It's not easy to just switch from one very high-tech weapons system to another, so if the British and America were to withdraw all the practical support tomorrow, they couldn't simply start flying Chinese and Russian jets the day after.
"It would take them years to replace all that, it's a big lever the British and Americans have got over them."
His comments come after Saudi Arabia acknowledged that Jamal Khashoggi died in the consulate, but said that he died in a "fist fight". This follows weeks of insisting he had walked out of the building alive after he went missing on 2nd October.
Turkish officials have accused the Saudi state of torturing and killed the journalist in the Saudi's Istanbul consulate in a premeditated murder, and claim to have audio evidence of it taking place.
US President Donald Trump said that sanctions were a possibility on the state but dismissed the suggestion that they could cancel a $110bn (£84bn) military order.
"It's over a million jobs," Trump said. "It's not helpful for us to cancel an order like that, it hurts us far more than it hurts them."
