Saudis want more precision bombs
Proposed FMS deal to include 3,000 SDB I munitions.
Saudi Arabia intends to acquire 3,000 GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb I (SDB I) munitions and related equipment plus logistics support in a $290 million FMS package.
Boeing was named as the prime contractor on the proposed sale, with any potential industrial offsets with Saudi companies to be defined subsequently.
The deal ‘will improve Saudi Arabia’s capability to meet current and future threats by increasing its stocks of long-range, precision air-to-ground munitions’, the US State Department announced on 29 December 2020.
‘The size and accuracy of the SDB I allows for an effective munition with less collateral damage,’ it added.
Shephard Defence Insight notes that Saudi Arabia is an existing GBU-39 user, having ordered 1,000 bombs.
In September 2020, the DoD awarded Boeing a $2.2 billion contract for the SDB I programme.
At the time, the Pentagon named Australia, Belgium, Israel, Japan, Korea, Netherlands and Norway as potential FMS recipients by September 2027.
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