Washington has agreed to a contract for the maintenance of Saudi Arabia's helicopter fleet, as announced by the U.S. State Department on Thursday. This is the first contract with the Kingdom since Joe Biden took office. The contract, which could be worth up to $500 million, aims to ensure the maintenance of the Saudi helicopter fleet, particularly the Apache and Black Hawk attack helicopters, as well as the future fleet of Chinook transport helicopters, according to the State Department's statement.
The statement noted that the contract includes sending two U.S. officials and 350 contract personnel to Saudi Arabia over two years. Biden, who had promised before his election to hold the Kingdom's leaders accountable for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in his country's consulate in Istanbul in 2018, ordered the release of a U.S. intelligence report in the spring that concluded, "the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, authorized an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi."
Saudi Arabia has "categorically" rejected the claims in the U.S. report, while Washington refrained from imposing sanctions on the Saudi Crown Prince. The Pentagon stated that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who canceled a scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia last week, "hopes" to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Austin visited the Gulf last week to thank U.S. allies for the support they provided for the massive airlift operation established by Washington following the sudden fall of the Afghan government and the Taliban's takeover in Kabul in August. His Gulf tour included Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, with a planned stop in Saudi Arabia that was abruptly postponed indefinitely.
The cancellation of the visit comes at a time when relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia have been tense since Biden took the keys to the White House. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stated that Austin's visit to Saudi Arabia "did not occur due to scheduling issues on the Saudi side," indicating that the visit had been scheduled hastily. Biden had ordered a review of all arms contracts made by his predecessor, Donald Trump, with Saudi Arabia since the beginning of his term.
