General Atomics eyes ‘huge’ MQ-9 sale to Saudi Arabia

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 was 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.

阿联酋阿布扎比——通用原子公司高管在阿布扎比举行的IDEX武器展上接受采访时表示，该公司正准备向沙特阿拉伯提供一揽子交易，以购买一批MQ-9B“海上卫士”无人机。

通用原子航空系统公司总裁戴夫·亚历山大告诉《防务新闻》：“我们仍处于非常早期的阶段，但正在努力推进此事，因为沙特阿拉伯对MQ-9B表现出了巨大的兴趣——我们预计他们对这些无人机有很大的需求，如果我们能够完成这笔交易，可能会在美国创造数万个就业岗位。”

虽然这位高管对具体细节含糊其辞——王国尚未做出任何承诺——但他指出，该组合方案包括“大量飞机”等，并且将涉及该国当地的参与。

该公司拒绝透露交易中还将包含哪些其他内容。

沙特阿拉伯此前一直将中国和土耳其视为其无人机制造商的首选，2014 年购买了中国制造的 CH-4 无人机，随后又订购了更多翼龙 II 无人机。

2023年，这个海湾国家还从土耳其制造商Baykar公司购买了Akinci战斗无人机。该公司首席执行官Haluk Bayraktar在接受《防务新闻》采访时称，这是两国历史上最大的国防交易。

近几年来，海湾地区对美国国防装备的需求普遍感到沮丧，因为这些装备的交付严重延误，并且由于华盛顿的出口管制制度，还附带了一些条件。

例如，2021 年，在美国国务院决定推迟卡塔尔一年前提出的购买 MQ-9B 无人机的请求之后，《华尔街日报》报道称，一些卡塔尔官员因没有收到任何关于拖延原因的解释而感到恼火。

亚历山大乐观地认为，在特朗普新政府的领导下，与地区盟友加快推进此前被中止或推迟的防务交易将会有所改变。

“我认为，新政府将对该地区的商业发展持更加开放的态度，这将使我们向前迈进，平等对待我们的合作伙伴……并达成交易，而不是用愚蠢的条件惹恼所有人，”他说。

亚历山大补充说，他预计在特朗普执政期间，向阿联酋出售“海上卫士”潜艇的交易将会恢复。

从2020年美国批准出售开始，阿联酋与中国就出口18架MQ-9B无人机展开了长达数年的谈判，但过程可谓混乱不堪。此前，这笔无人机采购曾与阿联酋购买50架F-35战斗机的交易挂钩，但最终因担心阿联酋使用中国技术而中止。

通用原子公司的方案是独立的，与洛克希德·马丁公司任何潜在的战斗机采购都无关。

“我们不再受那件事的拖累——2025年对我们（海湾）地区来说将是重要的一年，”亚历山大补充道。

特朗普曾公开表达对沙特阿拉伯王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼的赞赏，后者是沙特的独裁统治者，特朗普与他有着巨大的商业利益联系。在拜登执政期间，由于利雅得的人权记录，两国关系一度十分冷淡。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。