Just a day after Democrats took control of the US House of Representative, Saudi Arabia inked a deal Wednesday with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia to jointly build five corvettes for the Saudi navy. Riyadh has also made a $1 billion bid to partner with South African state-owned defense group Denel to grow its domestic defense industry, Reuters reported today.
The developments are the latest signs that Riyadh could look elsewhere for military equipment if Congress continues to hold up US weapons sales over the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen and the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
