Fencing the Kingdom: EADS Lands Huge Saudi Border Deal

Saudi Arabia(click to view full) Border fences and related surveillance systems are becoming popular around the world, including the Middle East. As “Jordan’s JBSP Border Security Program” notes, these systems are not foolproof. They can offer important improvements, however, and in recent years, the risk of violence insourcing back to Saudi Arabia from Iraq prompted construction a fence along the kingdom’s northern border. That concept became a serious initiative in 2006, and is currently scheduled for completion by the end of 2009. The northern fence was never designed to be a stand-alone effort. A much larger border project was first envisaged in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War, and The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been conducting a 13-year long bidding competition for a more comprehensive set or border and infrastructure security measures. Bidders reportedly included France’s Thales and EADS, Britain’s BAE Systems, and Raytheon in the USA. Now, a contract worth a reported $2.3-2.8 billion has been issued for over 8,000 miles of fencing and surveillance. Even as Saudi Arabia’s biggest concerns have shifted away from its northern border… On June 30/09, EADS N.V. announced: “After being under contract for the northern border security, which is now under […]