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.
“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 fulfill 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 fulfill several contracts with Riyadh including the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Tornado fighter jet, both of which are made with parts affected by the German decision.
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 euros (2 billion pounds) in revenues by 2026.
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, Reuters reported.
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.
Hunt’s “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, told Reuters.
