German halt in Saudi arms sales hurting UK industry - Hunt
Britain has urged Germany
to exempt big defense projects from its efforts to halt arms sales to Saudi
Arabia or face damage to its commercial credibility, the German magazine Der
Spiegel reported on Tuesday.
Germany said last
November it would reject future arms export licenses to Saudi Arabia. It has
not formally banned previously approved deals but has urged industry to refrain
from such shipments for now.
Germany accounts for just
under 2 percent of total Saudi arms imports, a small percentage internationally
compared with the United States and Britain, but it makes components for other
countries' export contracts. That includes a proposed 10-billion-pound deal for
Riyadh to buy 48 new Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets from Britain.
"I am very concerned
about the impact of the German government's decision on the British and
European defense industry and the consequences for Europe's ability to fulfil
its NATO commitments," British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt wrote in a
letter to his German counterpart Heiko Maas, Spiegel reported.
Hunt said British defense
firms would not be able to fulfil several contracts with Riyadh including the
Eurofighter Typhoon and the Tornado fighter jet, both of which are made with
parts affected by the German halt in deliveries to Saudi Arabia.
"This letter shows
how Germany's arms export practices are costing it the ability to partner with
its closest European allies," Hans Christoph Altzpodien, head of Germany's
defense industry association BDSV said.
In his letter, Hunt also
wrote that the German government's decision to halt arms exports to Saudi
Arabia would cost German defense firms €2.3 billion in revenues by 2026.
The German move is also
holding up shipments of Meteor air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia by MBDA,
which is jointly owned by Airbus, BAE Systems and Italy's Leonardo, since the
missiles' propulsion system and warheads are built in Germany. MBDA has
declined to comment on the issue.
"Germany can't
expect to be a part of the European defense industry and various cooperation
projects if it behaves so unilaterally on this," said one European
diplomat.
A top Airbus official
said on Friday that the German halt in exports to Saudi Arabia was preventing
Britain from completing the Eurofighter sale to Riyadh, and had delayed
potential sales of the A400M military transport and other weapons.
Hunt's letter comes as
Britain prepares to leave the European Union on March 29, in the biggest shift
in its commercial and diplomatic relations with the continent in decades. It
has still to reach a deal with the EU on the terms of its exit, raising the
risk of serious economic disruption.