Saudis vapenköp lyfter omsättningen med miljarder

The Royal Saudi Arabian Armed Forces (Arabic: القوات الـمسلحة الـملكية الـعربية الـسعودية‎‎; Arabic pronunciation: [al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥah al Malakeeya al-Arabiyah as-Suʿūdiyyah]) consists of the Saudi Arabian Army, the Royal Saudi Air Force, the Royal Saudi Navy, the Royal Saudi Air Defense, and the Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force. In addition the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG), which is one of the three major branches of the Joint Forces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The national guard is under the administrative control of the Ministry of the Saudi Arabian National Guard, instead of the Ministry of Defence, the Saudi Arabian Royal Guard, and paramilitary forces. Saudi Arabia has one of the best-funded defence forces in the Middle East. The kingdom spends 25% of its budget, or about $80 billion, on its military. In terms of manpower, Saudi Arabia has about 440,000 active personnel in its military, with 225,000 army troops, Saudi Arabia also has more than 100,000 people in its national guard and 25,000 tribal levies, which is used primarily to secure internal threats but has been used as an expeditionary force too. The navy has about 40,000 members, as does the air force. In addition, there is a military intelligence service, the General Intelligence Presidency (GIP). The Saudi Arabian National Guard is not a reserve but a fully operational front-line force, and originated out of Abdul Aziz's tribal military-religious force, the Ikhwan. Its modern existence, however, is attributable to it being effectively Abdullah's private army since the 1960s and, unlike the rest of the armed forces, is independent of the Ministry of Defense. The SANG has been a counterbalance to the Sudairi faction in the royal family; Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, the king, is one of the so-called "Sudairi Seven" and controls the remainder of the armed forces.