Jeddah – An official source at the Defense and Aviation Ministry has denied the reports which said that secret talks were held between the Saudi and British officials on a forty billion sterling pound worth deal for purchasing Typhoon planes from Britain.
The source made it clear that no secret talks between the two countries had taken place and added ”but Britain has expressed its desire to provide the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with these planes, and this British offer has come in line with other offers presented by a number of friendly countries which manufacture developed weapon systems.
”Moreover the Saudi Government has neither asked nor received any official or unofficial offer from Britain in this respect”, the source noted.
On the other hand the source confirmed the right of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to enhance its defensive capabilities through the development of its arm systems or obtaining new systems from any country in the world, and added ”but such deals take place in the light of the real requirements and not in return of political deals”
Meanwhile, the source said ”one of the conditions for concluding a deal of an arm system with any country is that the financial cost of the system should be equivalent to the cost of the sale of the same system by this country to its own armed forces.