Al-Yamamah arms deal

For the historical district in central Saudi Arabia, see Al-Yamama.

A central part of the Al Yamamah deal was the sale of Tornado fighters to the Royal Saudi Air Force.

Al Yamamah (Arabic: اليمامة, lit. 'The Dove') is the name of a series of record arms sales by the United Kingdom to Saudi Arabia, paid for by the delivery of up to 600,000 barrels (95,000 m3) of crude oil per day to the British government.[1] The prime contractor has been BAE Systems and its predecessor British Aerospace. The first sales occurred in September 1985 and the most recent contract for 72 Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighters was signed in August 2006.

Mike Turner, then CEO of BAE Systems, said in August 2005 that BAE and its predecessor had earned £43 billion in twenty years from the contracts and that it could earn £40 billion more.[2] It is Britain's largest ever export agreement, and employs at least 5,000 people in Saudi Arabia.[3]

In 2010, BAE Systems pleaded guilty in a United States court to charges of false accounting and making misleading statements in connection with the sales.[4] An investigation by the British Serious Fraud Office into the deal was discontinued after political pressure from the Saudi and British governments.[5][6]

  1. ^ "Arms sales fuel BAe's profits". BBC News. 25 February 1999. Retrieved 19 August 2006.
  2. ^ O'Connell, Dominic (20 August 2006). "BAE cashes in on £40bn Arab jet deal". The Sunday Times. London: News International. Retrieved 22 August 2006.
  3. ^ "Welcome to Project AY". BAE Systems. Archived from the original on 29 December 2006. Retrieved 18 December 2006.
  4. ^ Leigh, David (6 February 2010). "BAE admits guilt over corrupt arms deals". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 9 February 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  5. ^ "'National interest' halts arms corruption inquiry". The Guardian. 15 December 2006. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  6. ^ "SFO loses BAE al-Yamamah investigation documents". BBC News. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2021.