Saudi war in Yemen

[nastle]

Just wanted to see how do the other members here rate saudi military performance in Yemen so far ?

[Pruitt]

The Saudis have been performing a bit below average in my opinion. It is in the Royal Family's best interests that the Army does not perform TOO well. They have a well equipped "National Guard" to balance political influences. Just the fact that the Sauds can isolate Yemen and cut food imports will probably get them what they want in the long term.

Pruitt

[Surrey]

How much of their military are they actually committing? I only see pictures of their local allies in converted trucks on tv. Saudi spends more on its military than the UK so they have some decent kit.

[Snowygerry]

How much of their military are they actually committing? I only see pictures of their local allies in converted trucks on tv. Saudi spends more on its military than the UK so they have some decent kit.

They spend more than Russia apparently, third only to US and China.

[MarkV]

The Saudis having watched closely the effect of Britain and the USA's activities in Iraq and Afghanistan are well aware of the likely impact on public sentiment of lots of Saudi body bags arriving home so they are letting the Yemeni government loyalists do most of the close quarter fighting whilst they provide air and artillery support.

[Snowygerry]

No doubt yes, but they must be spending all that money somewhere ?

[MarkV]

No doubt yes, but they must be spending all that money somewhere ?

A lot is going on sophisticated air defences including anti missile systems as a shield against Iran. That sort of stuff doesn't come cheap.

[Snowygerry]

Makes sense - I imagine these things cost a lot to set up, but once operational we should see the budget go down then ?

[MarkV]

Makes sense - I imagine these things cost a lot to set up, but once operational we should see the budget go down then ?

Possibly not. Spending increased by 10% in 2017 and is expected to go on rising well past 2020. Having secured its territorial defences Saudi is now looking to develop a long range strike capability and future expenditure is going to be on tanker aircraft, transports with a strategic range, smart weapons and airborne target acquisition electronic pods. Analysts say they have already started shopping around. Their military spending had begun to fall pre 2017 but it seems that they have concluded that the USA is entering a period of isolationism and can no longer be relied on to come to Saudi's aid should a major regional conflict erupt. They also anticipate that as more nations begin to move away from oil based technologies their cash flow will wane and are spending tthe money whilst they still have it.

[Snowygerry]

That too makes sense, thanks.

[Gixxer86g]

A lot is going on sophisticated air defences including anti missile systems as a shield against Iran. That sort of stuff doesn't come cheap.

I'm sure all those Western contractors cost a fortune as well.

Are the Sauds moving to provide this "in house"? They really need to work on this.

[MarkV]

I'm sure all those Western contractors cost a fortune as well.

Are the Sauds moving to provide this "in house"? They really need to work on this.

Matter of culture. I haven't been there a while but unless things have changed drastically they have a slave owner culture.. Imagine a Roman patrician who wanted some physical labouring done - he'd go down to the market and buy some brawn - say some Nubians. If he wanted some thinking done (like arranging his library) he'd buy some brain- probably a Greek. The Greek would be treated a whole lot better than the Nubians but they'd all still be slaves. He'd never dream of doing any of the work himself.
Buyng and selling slaves was only made illegal in Saudi in the 1930s but it takes a long time to change a culture. If a Saudi prince wants some brawn he brings in some indentured 3rd world nationals through a contractor, if its brain he contracts with a western firm to hire some consultants. It's sort of lease a slave rather than buy one and he'd never dream of doing any of the work himself.
Plenty of top jobs where the head honcho has an opulent office and down the corridor is a smaller plainer office with a guy on contract who actually does all the work running the concern. To be fair the new Crown Prince does seem to be trying to change the culture to one where the Saudis do do things in house. I suspect the recent move to allow women to drive may also be a step in that direction. If they are to transition to an all Saudi labour force women will probably also have to work. But given that a significant number of the population still have attitudes that the Emperor Nero would have considered a bit backward it's going to be a slow business with very cautious steps.

[Gixxer86g]

Matter of culture. I haven't been there a while but unless things have changed drastically they have a slave owner culture.. Imagine a Roman patrician who wanted some physical labouring done - he'd go down to the market and buy some brawn - say some Nubians. If he wanted some thinking done (like arranging his library) he'd buy some brain- probably a Greek. The Greek would be treated a whole lot better than the Nubians but they'd all still be slaves. He'd never dream of doing any of the work himself.
Buyng and selling slaves was only made illegal in Saudi in the 1930s but it takes a long time to change a culture. If a Saudi prince wants some brawn he brings in some indentured 3rd world nationals through a contractor, if its brain he contracts with a western firm to hire some consultants. It's sort of lease a slave rather than buy one and he'd never dream of doing any of the work himself.
Plenty of top jobs where the head honcho has an opulent office and down the corridor is a smaller plainer office with a guy on contract who actually does all the work running the concern. To be fair the new Crown Prince does seem to be trying to change the culture to one where the Saudis do do things in house. I suspect the recent move to allow women to drive may also be a step in that direction. If they are to transition to an all Saudi labour force women will probably also have to work. But given that a significant number of the population still have attitudes that the Emperor Nero would have considered a bit backward it's going to be a slow business with very cautious steps.

I knew it was cultural. I also heard talk of reform.

In my opinion, no matter what the Sauds spend, they need to cross that cultural bridge if they want a military that lives up to the budget.