Saudis 'offer to widen huge U.S. arms buy'

F-15 Eagles fire AIM-7 Sparrow missiles at a tactical air-launched decoy off the coast of Hawaii on July 16 during the Rim of the Pacific Exercise 2006. The F-15s are from the Hawaii Air National Guard's 199th Fighter Squadron. (UPI Photo/Shane A. Cuomo/USAF)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 19 (UPI)

As Saudi Arabia's confrontation with Iran swells amid claims Tehran is exploiting political turmoil in the Arab world, Riyadh reportedly has offered to expand its $60 billion arms deal with Washington to keep it on the kingdom's side. Under that deal, first mooted in 2007, Saudi Arabia will get 85 Boeing F-15S combat jets, upgrades on 70 already in Saudi service, helicopters, missiles and tanks. The sale, the biggest arms deal in U.S. history, will lock Riyadh into a relationship with Washington for at least 20 years, easing strains caused by 9/11. The United States is the world's leading arms supplier and the Saudi deal will reportedly support 75,000 jobs, major defense firms like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Electric have said. Middle Eastern sources said the Saudis offered to expand that deal when U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited Riyadh April 6. Two days later, the U.S. Navy said the Saudi Ministry of Defense and Aviation had asked for price lists on surface warships with integrated air and missile defenses, helicopters, patrol craft and base infrastructure. This is a key element in Riyadh's program known as Saudi Naval Expansion Program II, worth as much as $23 billion over 10 years. The Saudi move toward further U.S. arms sales underlines Riyadh's alarm at what it sees as Iranian expansionism amid the pro-democracy uprisings shaking Arab regimes, including the Saudi monarchy.