China and Saudi Arabia have agreed on a deal for the Wing Loong medium-altitude long-endurance UAV.
By Zachary Keck
The Diplomat - May 08, 2014
China has signed a deal with Saudi Arabia to sell it a domestically-made drone, according to a report in Want China Times.
“Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement to purchase China’s Wing Loong
medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, otherwise known
as the Pterodactyl I,” the report said. Previously, Popular Science magazine reported that China had agreed to sell Saudi Arabia the Wing Loong.
Want China Times said the announcement had first been reported by China’s Global Times,
which itself cited Russian news sources as saying that the deal had
been signed during Saudi Defense Minister Salman bin Abdulaziz’s recent trip to China.
The deal was signed between Crown Prince Salman and Lt. General Wang
Guanzhong, the deputy chief of the People Liberation Army’s General
Staff. The reports didn’t specify the number of units the Saudi
government had agreed to buy. Lt. Gen. Wang often represents the PLA in
dealing with foreign countries.
Although the sale hasn’t been officially acknowledged by either
country, this has been the case in the past with Chinese arm sales to
the Persian Gulf monarchy. Moreover, the report makes sense as China has
pushed the Wing Loong drone as a major potential export.
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