That was the pitch going on last week by the top U.S. pitchman for American Made, President Donald Trump, when he hosted a delegation from Saudi Arabia led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump held up to reporters a prop sign listing Saudi purchases and pending sales of military equipment to the kingdom.
Among those purchases is a $15 billion request for Saudi Arabia to purchase the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system, made at a Lockheed Martin plant in Troy, Alabama. The State Department signed off on the sale in October 2017, as reported in Defense News.
For its own part, the U.S. has recently ordered its 10th lot of THAAD missiles, for a $459 million purchase that is part of the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill signed by President Trump on March 23 — making for a defense spending jump to $700 billion, the largest increase in 15 years.
In October 2017, Business Alabama visited Lockheed’s missile plant in Troy, following up on the $279 million Lot 9 contract for THAAD missiles. Read the article here.
