Al Yamamah ("The Dove") was a series of massive UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia, paid for over many years by up to 600,000 barrels of oil per day to the United Kingdom government. The Al Yamamah Project was initiated in September 1985. The deal has never been fully clarified but it involves the supply and support of Panavia Tornado, BAE Hawk and Pilatus PC-9 aircraft, specialised naval vessels to Saudi Arabia and various infrastructure works.

The UK Government’s prime contractor for the project is BAE Systems plc. BAE has approximately 4000 employees working directly with the Royal Saudi Air Force. See Military of Saudi Arabia

The success of the initial contract has been attributed to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who lobbied hard on behalf of British industry. There have been numerous allegations† that the Al Yamamah contracts were a result of bribery of members of the Saudi royal family and government officials. Some allegations suggested that the Prime Minister's son Mark Thatcher may have been involved, however he has strongly denied receiving payments or exploiting his mother's connections in his business dealings. The UK National Audit Office investigated the contracts and has so far not published its conclusions - the only NAO report ever to be withheld.

It has been described as "the biggest [UK] sale of anything to anyone".

Al Yamamah I

Deliveries began in 1989, comprising

• 48 Panavia Tornado Interdictor Strike (IDS)s
  • 28 GR1 Standard
  • 6 GR1A Reconnaissance Standard
  • 14 Dual Control Trainers
• 24 Panavia Tornado Air Defence Variant, equivalent to RAF Tornado F3 standard
• JP233 Runway Denial Munition
• Sea Eagle Anti Ship Missile
• ALARM Anti-Radar Missile

Al Yamamah II

Deliveries early 1990s - 1998

• 48 Panavia Tornado IDSs

Future

The UK continues to pursue military contracts with Saudi Arabia. BAE is keen to upgrade current Saudi equipment and to sell new equipment, e.g. the Eurofighter Typhoon.

External links

• † e.g. [1]

• BAE SYSTEMS
• BAE SYSTEMS - Project Al Yamamah
• Corp Watch - BAE System's Dirty Dealings - November 2003
• Global Security - Massive Saudi weapons deal draws unwanted attention to BAE Systems - December 2003
• Out of Arms Way - The Guardian - August 2003