After Obama snub, Saudis tap South Africa for armed drone

April 03, 2013 01:54

Saudi Arabia is to procure an armed drone from South Africa following an Obama administration refusal to sell the oil-rich kingdom US Predator or Reaper missile-firing, unmanned aircraft.

The Washington Free Beacon reports that the state-owned South African company Denel Dynamics is working covertly with the Saudis to develop the Seeker 400 drone into an armed combat system for the Saudi military.

Intelligence Online noted that the Saudi military would be the first customer to purchase the Seeker 400 armed drone and engineers from Denel are currently in the country as part of the program.

The new drone is reported to come equipped with South Africa's Mokopa air-to-ground missiles that are currently deployed on Algerian helicopters. The drone also can be outfitted with laser-guided missiles with a range of 10 kilometres.

While the Saudis maintain that the drones are for use in countering Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, some have expressed their concern over Saudi Arabia's human rights record, and the worry that drones could eventually be used against its own population in the event of a popular uprising.

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