Riyadh signs $48.5-million contract with Lockheed Martin

Saudi Arabia has signed a military contract worth $48.5 million with American defense giant Lockheed Martin to train the kingdom's troops.

The Orlando Sentinel website said on Tuesday that Lockheed Martin was the only firm to bid on the program.

The website said the training would be conducted in Orlando, Florida, and Saudi Arabia. The program is expected to be completed by April 28, 2019.

The report added that Lockheed Martin had managed to strike the deal after another agency based in Orlando agreed to cooperate with the company.

On Tuesday, the US Department of Defense announced that Lockheed Martin had been awarded the contract "to upgrade the M1A2S Advanced Gunnery Training System" for Saudi Arabia. The M1A2S is a specialized Saudi Arabian variant of the M1A2 Abrams tank.

The contract comes as the regime in Riyadh continues with its deadly campaign against Yemen. Over 11,000 people have been killed in Saudi airstrikes on Yemen since the beginning of the campaign in March 2015.

SS