ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates —General Atomics is preparing to offer a package deal to Saudi Arabia to acquire a number of MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones, company executives said in an interview at the IDEX arms fair in Abu Dhabi.
“We are still in the very early stages but are pursuing this hard as there is a huge interest coming from Saudi regarding the MQ-9B — we expect they have significant requirements [for these drones] that could result in many of tens of thousands of jobs in the U.S. if we were to close that sale,” Dave Alexander, president of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, told Defense News.
While the executive was coy about specifics — the Kingdom has yet to commit to anything — he noted that the combo offer includes a “large number of aircraft” among other things, and would involve local involvement within the country.
The company declined to elaborate on what else would be contained in the deal.
Saudi Arabia has previously looked to China and Turkey as its drone manufacturers of choice, with the purchase of Chinese-made CH-4s in 2014 followed by more orders for the Wing Loong IIs.
In 2023, the Gulf country also acquired the Akinci combat drones from Turkish manufacturer Baykar, which the company’s chief executive Haluk Bayraktar called the largest defense deal in history between the two countries in an interview with Defense News.
In the last few years, a sense of frustration was somewhat palpable in the Gulf region regarding requests for U.S. defense equipment, which suffered from significant delays and came with several conditions stemming from Washington’s export control regime.
For example, in 2021, following the U.S. State Department’s decision to delay Qatar’s year-old request to buy MQ-9Bs, the Wall Street Journal reported that some Qatari officials were becoming irritated from not receiving any explanations behind the hold-up.
Alexander is optimistic that things will change under the new Trump administration when it comes to fast-tracking defense deals with regional allies that were previously halted or delayed.
“The future is bright with this new administration in that I think [Trump] will open up to a lot more pro-business in the area allowing us to move forward, treat our partners here like equals … and getting deals done and not making everybody mad with silly conditions,” he said.
Alexander added that he expects the sale of the SeaGuardians to the UAE will resume under Trump.
The multi-year negotiation process to export 18 MQ-9Bs, which began in 2020 with the U.S. approval for the sale, has been chaotic, to say the least. The drone acquisition was previously linked to an additional deal where the Emiratis would receive 50 F-35s, which was eventually halted over concerns about the country’s use of Chinese technology.
General Atomics’ offering is a stand-alone one that remains separate from any potential fighter purchase from Lockheed Martin.
“No more weighing us down with that — 2025 is going to be a big year for us in the [Gulf] region,” Alexander added.
Trump has expressed admiration for Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the authoritarian ruler of Saudi Arabia, with whom he connects sizable business interests. Relations between the two countries were icier during the Biden administration because of Ryadh’s human rights record.
Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.
Author: Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo
Source: DefenseNews
