Britain Signs a $17-Billion Weapons Deal With Saudis

LONDON — Britain announced Friday it had signed its biggest-ever arms deal with Saudi Arabia, supplanting the United States as the major arms supplier to the oil-rich kingdom.

A Defense Ministry statement gave no details, but official sources said the deal--which includes minesweepers and about 50 Tornado fighter planes--is worth more than $17 billion. That dwarfs a $7.5-billion contract won by Britain in 1986 to supply Saudi Arabia with 72 Tornado fighters and other aircraft.

The ministry statement said the deal, signed Sunday in a memorandum of understanding, is a new phase of the previous contract and involves the supply “of additional aircraft, a construction program and specialized navy vessels.”

It includes an economic offset program, the statement said, apparently meaning an agreement to step up British investment in Saudi Arabia.

Boost for British Industry

The deal, a huge boost for the British armaments industry in the next decade, followed years of British lobbying. Unlike the U.S. Administration, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government is not constrained by lawmakers protesting that weapons sales to Saudi Arabia may endanger or offend Israel.

Official sources said the agreement involves the supply of 50 to 60 Tornado aircraft, 50 to 60 Hawk jet training aircraft, six minesweepers for use in the Persian Gulf, 90 helicopters, weapons systems, and the construction of two Tornado bases.

The contract also reportedly includes several civil aircraft for use by the Saudi royal family.

British Aerospace, lead contractor for the Tornados, which it manufacturers with West German and Italian companies, also will build the two Tornado bases, the sources said. The bases will be at Dhahran, to cover oil installations in the Persian Gulf, and near the Saudi capital, Riyadh, the sources said.

The other major British companies involved are Westland Helicopters and Vosper Thorneycroft, makers of Sandown-class minesweepers.

In Washington, the Reagan Administration said Friday that U.S. national interests had been damaged by Saudi Arabia’s decision.

The White House blamed the Saudi decision on Congress for being reluctant to approve some arms sales to Arab countries but denied the move would harm U.S.-Saudi relations.

The Administration also assailed the Senate for voting Thursday to eliminate the sale of air-to-ground Maverick missiles to Kuwait. The measure could block the proposed sale of 40 F-18 fighter-bombers to the Kuwaitis since the aircraft are ineffective without the missiles.

“The President is dismayed at the precipitate action,” Fitzwater said in a statement.

“These missiles are an integral part of the pending $2-billion sale of F-18 aircraft to Kuwait,” he said. “The Senate action . . . is unfortunate and damaging to U.S. foreign policy interests.”