First, the withdrawal of troops was carried out simultaneously with the arms purchase negotiations.

This time, not only Saudi Arabia, but also Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, Jordan and Bahrain joined in the middle of the negotiations.

In addition, there is Pakistan.

Allowing Pakistan to join the negotiations is actually playing the emotional card and using Pakistan's relationship with China to remove possible obstacles.

The Arab League countries were the first to mention, and most interested in, the main battle tank.

Quite simply, in order to support the Iraqi government army, that is, the Razak regime, Saudi Arabia and other Arab League countries have almost exhausted all their funds.

According to the information released later, when withdrawing from Iraq, Saudi Arabia left at least 500 M1A2s, and other Arab League countries also left hundreds of main battle tanks and supporting ammunition, and later sent the logistics support equipment of these main battle tanks.

For the Arab League countries, this is no joke.

You must know that before the outbreak of the Iraqi civil war, Saudi Arabia only had more than 1,000 M1A2s in total, and excluding the part damaged in the war, it was actually less than 1,000.

More than 500 M1A2s were given to the Iraqi Defense Forces in one go, and what did the Saudi army fight with?

Of course, there are no problems in the short term.

Saudi Arabia has always adhered to the principle of "buy one and prepare one", maintaining a high inventory rate to ensure that there are enough main battle tanks to use at any time.

It's just that in the long run, it's a big problem.

In fact, after aiding the Iraqi government army, the main battle tanks of the Royal Saudi Army were all spare parts that were turned out of warehouses.

Although it is also M1A2, these tanks are not in very good condition.

In addition, with the VT-4 "Salman", the Royal Saudi Army also looked down on the simplified version of the M1A2 that these Yankees used to cheat money.

You know, when withdrawing from Iraq, the Saudi Army took only 60 tanks, that is, 60 "Salman".

The three "Salman" damaged in the battle were dragged back by the Saudi army and spent a lot of effort to repair, and one of them was so badly damaged that it could almost be regarded as scrapped.

All in all, what the Saudis need most now is the main battle tank.

Of course, only after there are enough new main battle tanks can the Saudis provide the remaining M1A2s to the Iraqi Defense Forces.

In fact, before that, European and American countries were selling main battle tanks to Saudi Arabia, and even Russia rushed to join in the fun.

The United States came up with the latest improved version of the M1A2SEP, which is known to the outside world as the "ultimate Abrams", and claimed that it was a full-equipped version, which was not shrunk because of exports, and even hinted at the use of depleted uranium armor that was unique to the US military and had never been sold to the outside world before.

Britain brought the "Challenger 2" ST, the suffix "ST" has the meaning of "super tank", also has the meaning of "Saudi custom version of the tank", is the latest modification of the "Challenger 2", and replaced with a 120 mm smoothbore gun, but also installed the latest generation of Chobham armor.

France sent the "Leclerc", which is also the latest improvement, but there are no bright spots.

Even Germany, which has always been not very enthusiastic about the Middle East market, sent the "Leopard 2" A8SA, and declared in a high-profile manner that this is the most perfect tank in the world, a work of art in German industry, and the best tank that Saudi Arabia can buy on the market, and also said that it can be replaced with the latest 140mm smoothbore gun as needed.

As for Russia, it brought the T-14 "fleet" tanks that the dragon saw without a tail.

It must be admitted that these tanks are extremely advanced, and as long as they are not reduced due to exports, the performance of any of them is above that of "Salman".

The problem is, it's too expensive.

The offer for M1A2SEP is as high as $35 million, and at this price, it is possible to buy a light fighter on the international market that is not too bad.

The "Leopard 2" A8SA reached $38 million, and the most expensive one.

Even the cheaper Leclerc and Challenger 2 are 18 million and 19 million respectively, while the T-14, which Russia claims to be a fourth-generation main battle tank, has 27 million.

What is this for?

Robbery?

Also, who dares to guarantee that there will be no reductions?

It is important to know that when European and American arms dealers export arms, it is a standard procedure to reduce the allocation of arms, and the European and American governments will not allow the most advanced equipment to be used for export.

What's more, there must be a shadow of the Jewish bloc behind the governments of Europe and the United States.

In any case, Saudi Arabia is an Arab country and believes in Allah, so the arms sold to Saudi Arabia certainly cannot be better than Israel.

Also, by definition, the main battle tank is an offensive weapon.

The sale of offensive weapons is subject to a lot of restrictions.

For example, in the 90s of the last century, when exporting Su-27SK fighters to China, Russia did not think about exporting T-90 tanks.

Why?

This is because tanks are offensive weapons, and the Su-27SK is a typical air superiority fighter, which is more defensive in nature.

It can be seen that as long as the relations between countries are not close to the point of intimacy, when selling offensive weapons, exporting countries will have some concerns and set up many obstacles.

Even if Saudi Arabia is not short of money, it does not want to buy the monkey version of equipment.

What's more, Saudi Arabia is now short of money.

After just a few months of fighting, Saudi Arabia's military spending is tens of billions of dollars, and indirect losses are likely to be five times that amount.

Although the sharp rise in oil prices has brought huge income to Saudi Arabia, it is impossible to make tens of billions or hundreds of billions of dollars overnight.

If it weren't for the Saudi royal family's rich fortune and the use of royal assets to offset the government deficit, I am afraid that the Saudi government would have been finished long ago.

Obviously, it is very unrealistic to get Saudi Arabia to spend enough money to purchase weapons at this time.

Then, if you want good enough performance and a fair price, then you don't have to choose.

In fact, this is also the key reason why Saudi Arabia wants to bring Pakistan in.

Why?

With Pakistan's participation, there is a greater certainty that you will get a fair price from Huaxia, so that you can get the best equipment at the least cost.

Of course, the situation is similar in several other Arab League countries.

In addition, in the interior, these Arab League countries have reached a secret agreement with Pakistan.

What agreement?

Saudi Arabia first proposed, that is, to determine the psychological price of procurement, if Pakistan can get a lower price than this price, then the remaining part will be divided in half with Pakistan, and the final result of the negotiation is that Pakistan will take 60%.

What is the psychological value of the Arab League countries?

With the values of local tyrants, it is indeed cheap, but it is not cheap at all.