Transcript of an Oct. 20 press briefing at the State Department by Andrew J. Shapiro, Assistant Secretary, Political-Military Affairs, and Alexander Vershbow, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.
MR. TONER: Good afternoon. Welcome to the State Department. It’s our great pleasure to have in our briefing room today the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro as well as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Alexander Vershbow. Both are with us today to announce a major arms deal and to answer any of your questions. And with that, I’ll hand it over to you, Assistant Secretary.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SHAPIRO: Thank you, everyone, for coming and we are here – Ambassador Vershbow and I are here to officially announce the Administration’s plan to sell to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a significant defense package that will promote regional security and enhance the defensive capabilities of an important Gulf partner with whom we have had a longstanding and close security relationship. There have been a number of press reports since the summer anticipating this sale. And for those of you who tried to question us about it, you know that it is U.S. Government policy not to comment on any possible arms sales until formal congressional notification has taken place. Often for major arms sales such as this one, a lot of work has to be done before we can notify, including discussions within the U.S. Government, interagency bilateral discussions with the receiving government, not to mention pre-consultations with congressional staff and members.
That said, we are undertaking this sale because it supports our wider regional security goals in the Gulf by deepening our security relationship with a key partner with whom we’ve enjoyed a solid security relationship for nearly 70 years. Let me just take a couple of minutes to describe how this potential arms – we view this potential arms sale package as benefiting the United States and advancing U.S. national security. The Administration analyzed Saudi Arabia’s request for these new aircraft within the context of the U.S. Government’s conventional arms transfer policy, which outlines a criteria that includes the country’s legitimate security needs and broader security objectives.
In accordance with the Arms Export Control Act, the Secretary of State is responsible for providing continuous supervision and general direction of arms sales. This includes determining whether proposed arms sales or export of defense articles and services are authorized and ensuring that they best serve U.S. foreign policy. In practice, this responsibility falls to the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher and is enacted by the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.
The Bureau of Political-Military Affairs is the Department’s lead for arms sales request and has worked closely on this sale with counterparts at the Department of Defense who are responsible for implementing foreign military sales such as the proposed Saudi package. I’m happy to say that we have accomplished all the hard work necessary to complete this package and this interagency effort has been a top priority for both Secretary Gates and Secretary Clinton and reflects the strong cooperation between our departments to support our wider national security goals.
This morning the Defense Security Cooperation Agency transmitted to Congress four formal notifications. The most significant items in these potential FMS sales include 84 F-15 aircraft, 70 upgrades of existing Saudi F-15s to a more advanced configuration, 70 AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters, 72 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, 36 AH-6i light attack helicopters, and 12 MD-530F light training helicopters.
We have hard copies of DSCA’s press release available describing in more detail the aircraft platforms and the accompanying weapons systems. DSCA plans to publish these releases on its website very shortly. (See below—Ed.)
I do want to emphasize that the dollar value of these potential sales reflects only estimates. We have worked closely with the Saudi Government to identify their full requirements and believe the proposed packages, which include aircraft munitions, support, and training services are sufficient.
Given the defense requirements being pursued by Saudi Arabia, it may choose not to fully fund all four of these programs. The final amount of the sale may well be less than the not-to-exceed estimate provided by DSCA as it will ultimately depend on what the Saudi Government decides to purchase and on the outcome of contract negotiations with industry.
This proposed sale has tremendous significance from a strategic regional perspective. It will reinforce our longstanding security partnership with Saudi Arabia, as Ambassador Vershbow will briefly discuss after my comments.
It will send a strong message to countries in the region that we are committed to support the security of our key partners and allies in the Arabian Gulf and broader Middle East. And it will enhance Saudi Arabia’s ability to deter and defend against threats to its borders and to its oil infrastructure, which is critical to our economic interests.
At the same time, we took into account how this sale is appropriate from a regional political-military perspective and concluded it would not negatively impact Israel’s security interests or Israel’s qualitative military edge, QME.
I’ll now turn it over to Ambassador Vershbow, who will have more to say about the benefits of the sale and how it advances U.S. security interests.
AMBASSADOR VERSHBOW: Thanks very much, Andrew. It’s good to see you all. After many months of work, the Department of Defense is pleased to have the Saudi aviation package now moving forward in the Congress. As Andrew said, over the last 70 years, the United States and Saudi Arabia have worked closely to establish, maintain, and develop very strong bilateral defense ties. With that seven-decade period as background, DOD takes great pride in advancing our defense relations with the Saudis through this proposed sale. Secretary Gates was pleased to have played a direct role in his engagement with King Abdullah and other Saudi leaders in coming to agreement on the proposed configuration for the F-15SA.
Before taking your questions, I’d like to just make a few specific points about why this program is important to U.S.-Saudi defense relations. First of all, we welcome Saudi Arabia’s decision to continue to strategically align itself with the United States. If approved, this program will be implemented over 15 to 20 years, which means that our defense bond with the Saudis will only continue to grow deeper and stronger.
Second, we’re pleased that the Saudis look to the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army for meeting their defense requirements. The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army have excellent relationships in Saudi Arabia and we believe the capabilities being offered will provide Saudi Arabia with a strong defensive capability for generations to come.
As many of you know, for the past 20 years, the F-15 has been the cornerstone of the U.S. Air Force and Royal Saudi Air Force relationship. The procurement of the new F-15SA, which stands for Saudi Advanced aircraft, and the conversion of the Saudis’ existing F-15S fleet to a common configuration and the possible training contingent in the continental U.S. will provide sustained professional contacts as well as common training and support well into the 21st century.
As for the helicopters – the Apaches, Blackhawks, and Little Birds – we believe that these versatile platforms will be able to conduct a number of critical missions in Saudi Arabia that are essential for the Kingdom’s self-defense. We foresee these helicopters providing area security for Saudi military forces, protecting the borders, and defending critical energy infrastructure sites and installations.
Lastly, this sale will enable Saudi Arabia to be more interoperable with the United States and its partners in the region. By increasing our collective capabilities, not only will our partners be able to take on greater multilateral roles, but specifically the Department of Defense will be able to free up U.S. forces in the region, maximizing the effectiveness of our global force posture.
