Saudi Arabia must never join any fighter jet project with Britain and Italy
A bankrupt Britain is trying to rope in Cash rich Saudi Arabia to fund its future military project. Teaming up with Japan and Italy, the willy Brits are considering inviting Saudi Arabia to join their next-generation fighter jet development project with its financial support, a British government source said Friday.
Britain is looking to provide support for engineers in the Middle Eastern nation and its defence industry in return for its financial contribution to the trilateral project, under which the three countries aim to deploy the first jet by 2035, the source said.
These countries will never make Saudi Arabia an equal partner, as some officials of the other three governments are concerned about its cybersecurity and defence technology as well as cultural differences.
They are interested in only getting the Saudi money. Britain knows that sooner or later Saudi will negotiate with India for purchase of top rated Indian fighter jets, missiles and radars which areas good as that of any Western nations and at the same time much lower in price.
Saudi Arabia may even go in for joint production with India offering equal partnership. This joint program was announced in Dec 2022 itself as Japan and European countries began deepening security cooperation amid China’s dominance activities in the Indo-Pacific region and the prolonging of Ukraine conflict.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his British and Italian counterparts, Keir Starmer and Giorgia Meloni, reaffirmed their commitment to the joint development, dubbed the Global Combat Air Program, during their meeting in Brazil earlier this month on the fringes of the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.
According to the British government, the three leaders “discussed their ambition to widen participation to a broader range of international partners in future,” without mentioning any specific nations.However short of funds, Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter and financial power, becomes a lucrative target for the Brits.
Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Britain’s BAE Systems plc, and Italy’s Leonardo S.p.A. will lead the joint development.
However as things stand, Saudi Arabia has recently become a full fledged member of BRICS and also signed a Trade Agreement with India where trade has started in bilateral currencies.
Hence Saudi Arabia is unlikely to fall in the Anglo Italian trap.
