King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia wished to thank France for it’s offensive position in Syria by ordering the signature of a state to state contract, Life Extension Sawari 1 (LEX), for over 1 billion dollars of worth.

The public firm ODAS (the consortium gathering the DCNS, Thales and MBDA) will upgrade four frigates of Al Medinah class and two supply tankers of Boraida class, in service since 1985-1986, at the time of the Sawari I contract.

This contract could be followed by an even juicier one : the sale of six multi-mission Fremm frigates.

However, LEX was signed before the French backtracking in the Syrian bombing and it isn’t certain that the favours of the monarch will persist.

Translation
Alizée Ville