Arms trade

Revealed: Trump's $110 billion weapons list for the Saudis

The administration's much touted $110 billion arms proposal to Saudi Arabia, previously slim on specifics, includes seven THAAD missile defense batteries, over 100,000 air-to-ground munitions and billions of dollars’ worth of new aircraft, according to a White House document obtained by Defense News and authenticated by a second source.   

President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia on May 20 drew headlines for what was billed as a $110 billion arms agreement. However, experts quickly pointed out that much of the deal was speculative, as any arms sale has to go through the process of being cleared by the State Department, then Congress, before going through an often lengthy negotiating period with industry. 

The document does, however, reveal the different buckets that make up the $110 billion figure, including “LOAs to be offered at visit,” or letters of agreement that the Kingdom has already requested and the Trump administration supports, totaling $12.5 billion as well as the ten-year sustainment estimates on those programs, totaling $1.18 billion.