Raytheon to Provide US, Saudi Arabia with ’$180 Million in Missiles’ Amid Saudi Aggression on Yemen
Local Editor
US war contractor Raytheon has been awarded a $180 million contract to provide the US Navy and Saudi Arabia with guided air-to-ground missiles, the US War Department announced, according to the Sputnik News website on Saturday.
The announcement comes amid Saudi Arabia’s persisting bombing against civilian and economic targets in neighboring Yemen.
According to the US War Department cited by the Russia-based Sputnik News on Saturday, in a $180-million contract assigned to the arms manufacturer, Raytheon is to deliver the AGM-154 series missiles to the Saudi regime.
The contract also includes the delivery of 200 AGM-154C-1 missiles to the US Navy.
Saudi Arabia has significantly increased its purchases of weapons, becoming the world’s top importer in 2015, Sputnik News further said.
The AGM-154 series of missiles is a Global Positioning System and infrared guided air-to-ground missile with stand-off capability, it added.
The sale to Saudi Arabia, Sputnik News said, comes as the US and Gulf Arab countries agreed to expand "defense" cooperation amid "concerns" related to Iran.
Meanwhile, a Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States has been carrying out airstrikes against Yemen since March. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the UN.
Saudi Arabia began its US-led military aggression against Yemen on March 26 - without a United [UN] Nation mandate - in a bid to restore power to the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Saudi Arabia, and to undermine Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement which is currently responding to the attacks on the country.
Based on UN figures, over 3,261 people have been killed, 1,670 of whom were civilians in the Saudi onslaught.
