Saudis May Purchase Fleet of Submarines

Saudi Arabia may consider buying submarines to protect its Gulf and Red Sea coastlines, a senior Saudi official said Friday.

The official Saudi Press Agency quoted deputy defense and aviation minister, Prince Abdul-Rahman bin Abdul-Aziz, as saying, “Buying submarines is a possibility. But there are many factors involved in having submarines.”

He did not say whether Saudi Arabia, which depends for most of its income on oil exports carried by tankers from the Gulf and the Red Sea, had started negotiations to buy submarines.

Prince Abdul-Rahman said the location of Saudi Arabia both on the shallow Gulf and the deeper Red Sea meant it might have to operate different kinds of submarines.

“We cannot have one submarine for the Gulf and the Red Sea. We have responsibilities for both our eastern and western coasts and this has to be taken into consideration.”