Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 12, 1993 TAG: 9308120089
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In a widening stream that keeps assembly lines rolling from Omsk to Oklahoma, weapons exporters have shipped or agreed to ship more than $50 billion in heavyweight armaments to the region in the three years since Iraq invaded Kuwait, new calculations show.
The U.N. Conventional Arms Register, whose 1992 listings will soon be made public, confirms that the United States and four other key producing nations delivered at least 85 warplanes and 521 tanks and other armored vehicles to Mideast customers last year.
Pending deals far outweigh those. The expected $28 billion to $30 billion in U.S. foreign military sales for this fiscal year is the biggest annual total ever, and most is ticketed for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Israel and other Mideast governments.
Two years ago, it looked like the regional weapons bazaar might be folding some of its tents.
After the war with Iraq, whose military muscle grew on huge weapons purchases in the 1980s, then-President Bush told Congress, "It would be tragic if the nations of the Middle East and Persian Gulf were now, in the wake of war, to embark on a new arms race."
Negotiations began among the five permanent U.N. Security Council members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - to scale back military sales.
By late 1991, the five - who are also the world's biggest weapons exporters - had pledged to avoid "destabilizing" the Mideast through arms deals - a vague commitment to restraint in addition to the flat U.N. ban on weapons sales to Iraq.
But by late 1992, the talks had broken down. The flow of armor and air power did not.
Some current deals:
Saudi Arabia is buying 72 U.S.-built F-15 warplanes, mostly advanced fighter-bomber models, for $8.2 billion, and 48 British Tornado bombers for $7.5 billion.
The United Arab Emirates signed off on a $3.5 billion deal for 390 Leclerc tanks from France.
Iran ordered 500 of Russia's workhorse T-72 tanks, reports the authoritative Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Russia also sold the Iranians two Kilo-class patrol submarines, making Iran the first gulf nation with undersea power.
The arms race is many-sided. Fear of Iran is cited for a Saudi buildup, Saudi purchases are used to justify Israeli arms deals, Syria scrambles to keep up with Israel, and so on.
For the suppliers, the motive, increasingly, is pure economics.
Tanks exported from the Omsk arsenal bring in desperately needed hard currency for dollar-poor Russia. And McDonnell-Douglas Corp. said the Saudi F-15 order would preserve 7,000 jobs in Tulsa, Okla., and St. Louis.
The British and French show little enthusiasm for negotiating cutbacks in their Mideast arms sales, already stunted by tough American competition.
The Clinton administration is expected to reveal a comprehensive arms control policy in the coming weeks.
by CNB