Saudi Arabia seeks to buy missiles from Israel company

Saudi Arabia intends to buy weapons from Israel’s Rafael company which is known for its precision missiles, Hebrew news sites have reported.

Israel Defence Magazine said yesterday that Saudi Arabia has expressed a desire to purchase equipment from Rafael and if permission is obtained from Israeli authorities, arms can be supplied to the kingdom through its European representative, Euro Spike.

The magazine indicated that allowing the company to provide Saudi with advanced combat weapons has “problematic ramifications”, noting that the Israeli Security Ministry may not allow the export of missiles to Saudi Arabia, fearing that they might one day be used against the occupation army. However others have speculated that a deal would be allowed to pass because missiles have a lifespan of ten years, a period during which no confrontation is expected with Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom, the report continued, is looking to diversify its weapons sources, it currently relies on the TOW missiles, which the Saudi authorities began importing from the US company Raytheon in 2017.

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