The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s ballistic missile program (BM) has been in effect since at least 1986 and serves as a conventional deterrent against Riyadh’s enemies, such as Iran. As part of this program, Saudi Arabia amassed a small stockpile of operational missiles between the late 1980s and early 2000s. Riyadh now focuses on manufacturing BMs locally, primarily with Chinese assistance. Other countries, such as Ukraine, have also provided limited support.
Our 1,966-word report (6-pages) provides an overview of Riyadh’s missile inventory and provides a status report and update on the Saudi BM development program. In addition, our special report looks ahead at future trends for the Saudi BM program.
Our special report is structured as follows:
-Objectives & Lines of Effort: Deterrence
-Ballistic Missile Inventory: Dongfeng-3 (DF-3); Dongfeng-21 (DF-21); Hrim
-Saudi BM Production: Localizing Deterrence; Chinese Assistance: TOT/ TOP; Al-Dawadmi Facility; Solid-fuel rocket engine; U.S. Involvement in Saudi Missile Program?; The Pakistani connection
-Future Plans: Hrims to refresh BM program?; Absorption under RSASF