US approves $500 million sale of spare parts to Saudi military
The announcement comes a day after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that Saudi normalization with Israel is getting closer.
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday approved a major $500 million sale to fund spare and repair parts for Saudi Arabia’s military.
The proposed sale, which the State Department notified to Congress on Thursday, would fund components for Saudi Arabia’s existing Abrams and M-60 tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, light armored vehicles and Humvees.
The proposal would also fund spare and repair parts for rifles and pistols as well as crew-served weapons systems, such as the kingdom’s TOW anti-tank missile launchers, radar sets, recoilless rifles as well as computer units, radar sets and night vision devices, among other equipment.
Why it matters: The proposed sale — which does not include any new systems — is a far cry from the advanced arms sales Saudi Arabia has been seeking from the United States as part of its conditions for normalizing ties with Israel.
