Page 267 - Arabia the Gulf and the West

264 Arabia, the Gulf and the West

integrity of Saudi Arabia under its present rulers. Following Fahad’s visit the
United States-Saudi joint commission reached agreement that Saudi Arabia’s
oil production should be increased from June 1977 from 8,500,000 barrels per
day to 9,900,000 b/d for the remainder of 1977, and to 10,400,000 b/d from 1
January 1978. The excess of production over 8,500,000 b/d - of which the
United States already took a considerable share - was to be placed at the
disposal of the United States. Like so many agreements in the delusive world of
Middle-Eastern oil, this one hardly lived up to its promise. Saudi oil produc­
tion throughout 1977 never exceeded an average of 8,500,000 b/d, if it actually
attained this level. Excuses were made for the deficiency - bad weather in the
Gulf early in the year, a fire in the Abqaiq oilfield in May - but the fact remains
that the agreed level of production was not attained.
Meanwhile the United States has become more deeply involved in Saudi
Arabia than ever before: ARAMCO’s vision of a natural Saudi-American
partnership has become flesh. According to the United States embassy in
Jiddah in 1978, there were some 30,000 Americans in Saudi Arabia employed

on commercial contracts, in government work or as military instructors and
specialists. Unofficial estimates put the number at double this figure, and their
presence was directly linked with the Saudi government’s elaborate plans to
expand and modernize its armed forces. The first steps to provide the country
with a partial air-defence system had been taken after the Egyptian interven­
tion in the Yemen in 1962. For a number of reasons, some of them political, the
initial contracts were shared between American and British aircraft companies
and armaments manufacturers, the Americans supplying Hawk surface-to-air
missiles while the British set up a radar screen with missile support to cover
part of the Red Sea region, and equipped the Saudi air force with theoretically
operational squadrons of Lightning fighter aircraft. From 1970 onwards, and
more particularly after the oil-price rises late in 1973, the Saudi government
placed large orders for weapons and aircraft with Britain, France and the
United States. Between 1973 and 1977 the Saudis purchased or contracted to
buy, among other things, 735 medium tanks; 250 light tanks; 700 armoured

cars and personnel carriers; Hawk, Rapier and Crotale surface-to-air missile
systems; 75 and too mm field guns and anti-aircraft batteries; ninety F-5
(Tiger) fighter aircraft; thirty-eight Mirage III fighter-bombers (for subse­
quent transfer to Egypt); forty-five transport aircraft; over 500 military
helicopters; and an assortment of naval craft, some equipped with guided
missiles. To this actual and potential arsenal was added an order in the summer
of 1978 for sixty F-16 (Cobra) fighter aircraft.
While British companies have been awarded substantial contracts (to a value
of some £250 million in 1973 and £500 million in 1977) for the development,
training and maintenance of the Saudi air force, the major task of equipping
and expanding Saudi Arabia’s armed forces is being performed by American
defence contractors. Under the supervision of the United States Army Corps of