Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Arms exports to Saudi Arabia climb to exceed 55 million euros

Arms exports to Saudi Arabia climb to exceed 55 million euros

The economic recovery also comes to the sale of weapons. According to the report on Spanish exports of defense material, prepared by the Secretary of State for Commerce and to which EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, a newspaper belonging to the same publishing group as this medium, has had access, in the first half of 2021 weapons were exported by value of 1,633.9 million euros, an increase of 37.3% compared to what was registered in the first half of 2020 (1,189.7 million euros). In this increase, one chapter stands out due to its geopolitical importance: the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia.
According to the official document, in the first six months of this year, Riyadh received Spanish weapons worth 55.1 million euros, an amount of which the bulk -31.8 million- it’s artillery ammunition and its components (31,508 155mm shots, 60,000 projection charges, 40,800 fuzes and 80,000 bolts). The sale of arms to Saudi Arabia in the first half of 2021 thus exceeds the set of sales made in all of 2020, which was 48.3 million.

Spanish arms exports to Saudi Arabia have often been surrounded by controversy over the possibility of their use in conflicts such as in Yemen. In fact, the European Parliament asked at the beginning of the year the suspension of the export of European military material to Riyadh, a decision that countries such as Germany, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands have adopted. However, in her last appearance in Congress to account for arms exports, last summer, the Secretary of State for Commerce, Xiana Méndez, assured that there are no “signs of use” of material exported by Spain “outside the territory of Saudi Arabia”, and to guarantee this, Spain has implemented a system of on-site inspections accepted by Riyadh that would allow, otherwise, exports could be “suspended or revoked”.

In addition to artillery ammunition, ship and aircraft components have been dispatched to Riyadh in 2021 and authorized exports worth 4.5 million euros corresponding to the categories of fire control systems, aircraft and imaging and countermeasure equipment. Neither the exported material nor the material authorized for future export contains bombs or missiles.

The upturn in arms sales to Saudi Arabia in the first half of this year also exceeds the total of 2019 exports (35.4 million euros), although it is below those of 2018 and the five immediately preceding years, because in those exercises the figures soared when including the export of airplanes and ships. In fact, thanks to these vehicles, Riyadh has been the main destination for Spanish arms exports to non-NATO and non-EU countries in 2017 (270 million, including one transport aircraft), 2015 (546 million, with two air-refueling aircraft and one transport aircraft) and 2014 (293 million, including one air-refueling aircraft).
Sales recovery

The report for the first half of 2021 shows, beyond the figures from Saudi Arabia, a recovery in arms sales after the impact of the pandemic in 2020 caused a 10.4% decline in exports compared to the previous year. As always, the bulk of the operations were closed with partners from the European Union and NATO (69.6% of the total). The three countries that received the most Spanish weapons in the first six months of this year were France (310.2 million euros), the United Kingdom (285.6 million) and Australia (269.9 million, explained by the purchase of a supply ship).

By product category, the main export chapters have been Aircraft (916.7 million euros, 56.1% of the total), Warships (269.2 million euros, 16.5%) and Land Vehicles (180.2 million euros, 11%).

Faced with the rebound in sales of defense material, the report confirms the collapse in exports of police material: in the period analyzed, exports in this category totaled 98,257 euros, compared to 719,026 euros in the same period of 2020, a drop of 86.3%. The export destinations this year were Albania (78,948 euros, 80.3% of the total), France (17,760 euros, 18.1%) and Belgium (1,549 euros, 1.6%).
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×