Lockheed clinches $2.4 billion deal for sale of THAAD missiles

Lockheed clinches $2.4 billion deal for sale of THAAD missiles | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp was awarded a $2.4 billion Pentagon contract on Monday for THAAD interceptor missiles, some of which are slated to be delivered to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Reuters had reported Lockheed was nearing the deal earlier on Monday.
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Another great day for the Military Industrial Complex that Pres. Eisenhower warned us against in his farewell address.

This ABM system appears to be intended for protecting the Kingdom from threats from its neighbors: Iran, Israel, etc.

JacksinPA said:

Lockheed clinches $2.4 billion deal for sale of THAAD missiles | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp was awarded a $2.4 billion Pentagon contract on Monday for THAAD interceptor missiles, some of which are slated to be delivered to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Reuters had reported Lockheed was nearing the deal earlier on Monday.
================================================
Another great day for the Military Industrial Complex that Pres. Eisenhower warned us against in his farewell address.

This ABM system appears to be intended for protecting the Kingdom from threats from its neighbors: Iran, Israel, etc.

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The Saudis don't have to worry about Israel, as they're in bed with the Israelis. That's sort of the reason that they were put in power in the first place; Sharif Hussein opposed the Balfour Declaration, so the British stabbed him and the Hashemites in the back, helping to install the Saudis and their Wahhabi handlers in the Hejaz. Wahhabism doesn't see other Muslims as part of the Ummah, so they have no sense of solidarity with the Palestinians. The Israelis have been using them as a foil to Shi'a power in the region for ages. These missiles are intended to limit the reach of Iran and other regional Shi'a powers.

Oh good... because the Middle East needs more missiles. :roll:

OrphanSlug said:

Oh good... because the Middle East needs more missiles. :roll:

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Defensive missiles... Yes.

OrphanSlug said:

Oh good... because the Middle East needs more missiles. :roll:

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Well yea, as Fleder said these are defensive missiles.

The only thing they can target is aircraft and other missiles. In fact, it does not even have any kind of warhead. It is a true HTK (hit to kill) kinetic weapon. In essence, a missile who's only purpose is essentially delivering what is basically a tungsten baseball bat into it's target.

So unless somebody is targeting one of those countries with aircraft or missiles, they do not have a single thing to worry about from THAAD. It would be more effective to take a few dozen gross metal baseball bats and drop them from aircraft as anti-personnel weapons than it would be to fire these missiles at them.

Being worried about these makes about as much sense as being worried that body armor and helmets will upset how infantry operates in combat.

JacksinPA said:

Lockheed clinches $2.4 billion deal for sale of THAAD missiles | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp was awarded a $2.4 billion Pentagon contract on Monday for THAAD interceptor missiles, some of which are slated to be delivered to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Reuters had reported Lockheed was nearing the deal earlier on Monday.
================================================
Another great day for the Military Industrial Complex that Pres. Eisenhower warned us against in his farewell address.

This ABM system appears to be intended for protecting the Kingdom from threats from its neighbors: Iran, Israel, etc.

Click to expand...

And exactly what other options are there for countries that want an air defense system?

Well, you have NPO Almaz. That is the primarily Russian Government owned company that makes the S-300 and S-500 missile systems.

Then you have the smaller and older version of THAAD, which is the PATRIOT system by Raytheon. But SA already has PATRIOT, which is a medium range system. They are purchasing THAAD because they want a long-terminal range solution.

And really, that is about it. Well, China makes the HQ-15, but it is just a domestically made copy of the S-300 for internal use only.

So that's about it. In essence, this is about as interesting or shocking as if the headline was that some country wanted a commercial aircraft built, and either Boeing or Airbus won the contract.

And no, SA has no reason to protect itself from Israel. In fact, over the last several decades the 2 nations have grown quite close. This has been growing more and more over the last decade and a half, as the relationship between SA and Palestine has deteriorated. And the two nations have been conducting "unofficial" military cooperation exercises for over a decade now.