Boeing and Lockheed Martin are major beneficiaries of $110 billion in arms and services agreements the White House announced during President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia. Included in the package, the Saudi government has signaled its intent to buy an undisclosed number of Boeing P-8 Poseidon martime patrol aircraft; another agreement creates a joint venture to assemble 150 Lockheed Martin S-70 Black Hawk helicopters, the defense contractors said.
Trump and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud participated in a signing ceremony for the package on May 20 in Riyadh. The package “supports the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region in the face of malign Iranian influence and Iranian related threats,” the White House said. “Additionally, it bolsters the Kingdom’s ability to provide for its own security and continue contributing to counterterrorism operations across the region, reducing the burden on U.S. military forces.”

Late last year during the previous Obama administration, the U.S. stopped sales of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia out of concern for civilian casualties of Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen. A Saudi coalition has conducted thousands of airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels since intervening in Yemen’s civil war in March 2015.

Included within the latest arms package, Saudi Arabia signaled its “intent” to procure more than $28 billion worth of Lockheed Martin integrated air and missile defense systems, combat ships, tactical aircraft and helicopters, the U.S. company announced the same day. Lockheed Martin and Taqnia, a Saudi technology development and investment concern, signed a letter of intent to create a joint venture for final assembly and completion of 150 Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky S-70s, an agreement that would create 450 jobs in Saudi Arabia and support a similar number at Sikorsky’s facilities in Connecticut and other U.S. locations.

Another agreement supports “localization efforts associated with multi-mission surface combatants and aerostats.”

Boeing on May 21 said Saudi Arabia intends to buy the P-8, joining the U.S., the UK, India, Norway, Australia and potentially New Zealand, as current or future customers of the 737-800 anti-submarine warfare derivative. Boeing also announced the kingdom’s intent to purchase CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters—an agreement that follows a Pentagon notification to Congress in December that specified a Saudi request for 48 CH-47F models.