Saudis open APC facility

LONDON — Saudi Arabia has launched a facility meant to produce land systems for the military.

The facility was inaugurated on Sunday by Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz. The facility was descibed as a research and development facility in the city of Kharej.

Officials said the goal was to achieve Saudi self-sufficiency in the production of land systems, including tanks and armored personnel carriers.a A first step, they said, would be the production of the M-113 armored personnel carrier.

The APC is a tracked vehicle produced by the United States and can fit 13 people, including crew. Saudi Arabia has 1,600 A1 and A2 models, first delivered in 1976.

Officials said Saudi defense industries would maintain, overhaul and then design the APC. The last stage, they said, would be production of subsystems and final assembly of the vehicle.

The effort would be aided by Western contractors, the officials said.

Saudi Arabia has been trying to develop a defense industry meant to maintain and eventually produce upgrades and entire military systems. In another development, France and Saudi Arabia continued discussions regarding military cooperation. The discussions were held by a visiting French military delegation to Riyad.

The two countries have engaged in military cooperation since 1968. France seeks to sell Saudi Arabia up to $5 billion worth of weapons, mostly comprising the Leclerc tank.