2023-09-15 07:04:00
Washington: It is reported that RTX, an American arms manufacturing company, has pulled out of a multibillion dollar deal with Saudi arms manufacturers due to concerns regarding trade with Russia and China.
Members of the advisory board of the Saudi firm Scopa Defense have resigned following displeasure over dealings with firms in Moscow and Beijing. The board is comprised of retired U.S. military personnel.
In 2022, RTX and Scopa signed a memorandum of understanding to build an air defense-related factory to protect Riyadh from airstrikes.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the project was bringing together several radars and air defense systems capable of intercepting drones and missiles. Saudi Arabia has faced several drone attacks in 2019, including a major attack on Aramco oil factories.
According to the plan, it was aimed to invest 25 billion US dollars in Saudi Arabia. Nasser Alghairi, former CEO of Scopa, said this would have resulted in sales of US$17.25 billion. He was fired earlier this year.
Mohamad Alajlan, the owner of Scopa, said that two more companies, Tal Military Industries and Sefa Military Industries, have been established. The Wall Street Journal reports that an executive from a U.S.-accredited Russian company was hired to manage Sefa and a Chinese national to manage Thal.
Tal and Sefa also reportedly shared computer servers with Scopa employees while Scopa tried to gain access to sensitive data from RTX.
Content Highlight: Saudi-US arms deal called off over ties to sanctioned Russian, Chinese firms: Report
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