Royal Saudi Navy signs $23 million contract with Booz Allen to provide training and support services

The Royal Saudi Navy (RSN) announced today that they have entered in to a contract with a US based consultancy firm, to provide training and support services.

The contract with Booz Allen Hamilton Inc (BAH) is estimated to be worth some $23.2 million. Officials from the RSN claimed that the contract will cover the naval forces, both at home and overseas. According to the Saudi authorities, most of the work will be done at home, at the naval bases of the RSN.

The US defence ministry has confirmed the finalization of the deal with the RSN. According to a source from the MoD, the contract is covered by the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program of the United States, which facilitates the sale of American defence equipment, arms, support services, and military training to the allied nations. As per the program, the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) had acted as an intermediately between the RSN and BAH during the signing of the contract.

Officials from the BAH informed the media that in addition to training and education services, the contract covers a number of other aspects, such as naval operations, English language acquisition, finalization of plans, manpower management, technical support, communications, financial management, engineering, and program management.

The RSN is one of the largest naval forces in the region, with strength of well over 50,000 personnel. The RSN had played an active role in many of the conflicts in the region, such as the 1990 Gulf war, the Operation Restore Hope of 1992, and the recent Sa’dah Insurgency in Yemen. RSN operates a total of two naval fleets: the Eastern Fleet (Persian Gulf Fleet) based at Jubail, and the Western Fleet (Red Sea Fleet) based at Jeddah.