German halt in Saudi arms sales hurting UK industry
11:32, 20/02/2019, WednesdayU: Update: 11:34, 20/02/2019, Wednesday
REUTERS
King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz at The King Faisal Air Academy
LOSSES
In his letter, Hunt also wrote that the German government's decision to halt arms exports to Saudi Arabia would cost German defence firms 2.3 billion euros 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 defence 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.