Saudi Arabia cuts defence spending
18 December 2020
by Charles Forrester
Saudi Arabia will cut its defence budget for 2021 by 3.8% to SAR175 billion (USD46.62 billion), marking a continued decline in the country’s defence spending, according to budget documentation released on 16 December.
Overall government spending was reduced to SAR990 billion, down 2.94% year-on-year. Government revenues are anticipated to be SAR849 billion, creating a budget deficit of SAR141 billion, or 4.9% of GDP. Defence expenditure as a percentage of public expenditure is expected to remain relatively stable in nominal terms at 17.68%. Defence spending as a proportion of GDP is also forecast to decline from 7.04% in 2020 to 5.81% in 2021, a level not seen since 2013, as the overall budget is also reduced to 2014 levels.
Editor’s note: This article was first published on October 8, 2018
The Vostok-2018 war games in eastern Siberia last month marked Russia’s biggest military exercise in more than 30 years, with about 300,000 Russian, Chinese and Mongolian troops taking part.
More than just an exercise, the war games were a public relations opportunity to showcase military hardware, Russia’s second-biggest source of income after oil.
During Vostok-2018, Russia showed off the S-400 surface-to-air missile, one of the country’s most advanced and marketable weapons systems in recent years.
The S-400 is a massive upgrade to the S-300, its predecessor which was recently sent to Syria.
US government sanctions Turkey over S-400 buy
15 December 2020
by Charles Forrester
The US government announced the imposition of sanctions on Turkey’s defence acquisition organisation on 14 December under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) over the Turkish acquisition of Russian S-400 (SA-21 ‘Growler’) air-defence system.
Under the sanctions, Washington is targeting Turkey’s defence procurement organisation: the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB). Blocking sanctions and visa restrictions through the Department of the Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List were also announced against the SSB’s president: Ismail Demir. Senior SSB personnel including SSB vice-president Faruk Yigit, the head of the SSB’s air-defence and space department Serhat Gencoglu, and programme manager for the SSB’s regional air-defence systems directorate Mustafa Alper Deniz were also added to the SDN list. Through the SD
US sanctions on Turkish defence agency may have wider global impact, says Janes
15 December 2020
by Charles Forrester
Key Points
US sanctions against Turkey’s SSB over the acquisition of the Russian S-400 ground-based air defence system may limit Turkey’s ability to upgrade, modernise, and develop its equipment.
Countries and companies may have to take into account the broad-reaching consequences of CAATSA for their own procurement and market strategies.
The US government announced the imposition of sanctions on Turkey’s defence acquisition organisation on 14 December under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) over the Turkish acquisition of the Russian-made S-400 air-defence system in a move that could have wider implications for the international defence market.