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RIYADH, Arabian Arabia, April 12 (UPI) -- Arabian peninsula has fresh shown welfare in medium-sized U.S. warships as part of its naval buildup to furniture Iran, particularly surface vessels confident of countering asymmetric and expose threats.

This is a key element in Riyadh's program famous as Arabian Naval Expansion Program II, worth as much as $23 1000000000 over 10 years, which saw the reddened of period after the 1990-91 Gulf War triggered by Iraq's conquest of Kuwait.

The U.S. Navy unconcealed April 8 that Riyadh's Ministry of Defense and Aviation had asked Washington for surface warships with integrated expose and arm defenses, helicopters, patrol craft and humble infrastructure, much as hard command centers, docks and training facilities. GALLERY: Iran's Military Strength The Navy said it could belike put unitedly a wrinkled outlay judge by May.

As far as is known, the Saudis prefabricated no name of specific classes of ship. But they hit daylong been fascinated in the U.S. Littoral Combat Ship, a corvette-size warship, but poverty it to be brachiate with Lockheed Martin's Aegis air-defense system.

There are digit U.S. LCS designs, both fast and maneuverable to furniture asymmetrical operations much as those that the naval aerofoil of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is famous to favor.

They carry digit SH-60 Seahawk helicopters and Mk 110 57mm guns and hit a crowning pace of 47 knots.

Lockheed Martin has the Independence-class version, while the Freedom-class board is shapely by General Dynamics. Both variants are in assist with the U.S. Navy for evaluation.

No U.S.-built job surface craft is currently brachiate with Aegis. But Lockheed Martin's evilness president for playing development, Paul Lemmo, has said his consort would substance a multi-role edition of its LCS shapely by its maritime systems division, mayhap fitted with Aegis.

The possibleness filler of the initial Arabian order is probable to be around a dozen vessels. It's probable that U.S. shipbuilders would substance a newborn frigate-class board brachiate with Aegis kinda than an LCS.

The only frigate types equipped with Aegis are Norway's 5,200-ton adventurer collection and Brazil's 6,200-ton Bazan class.

These are fashioned for unfathomable liquid operations, while the Saudis are hunting more at vessels to be used in the shallower and more limited waters of the Gulf, crossways which some Iranian naval threat would come.

It's entirely possible that the earth could be widened to allow non-U.S. vessels if the Americans cannot produce what Riyadh wants.

It is not clear whether Riyadh's SNEP requirements start within the $67 1000000000 blazonry understanding to Arabian peninsula designed by the brass of U.S. President Barack Obama in October 2010.

That sale, with deliveries over 15-20 years, covers 84 Boeing F-15S fighters, upgrades for another 70 currently in Arabian service, General Dynamics Land Systems Abrams M1A2 tanks and more than 120 helicopters.

It is the maximal blazonry understanding in U.S. history and has a naval component that is believed to refer modern helicopter-carrying Offshore Patrol Vessels. That could allow the newborn LCS ships.

Saudi Arabia's 13,500 Negro blueness has digit fleets, one, the large of the two, based at Jubail on the kingdom's orient coast on the Iranian Gulf; the another western fast in the Red Sea headquartered at Jeddah.

The western fleet's direct assignment in the circumstance of hostilities would be protect Arabian Arabia's lubricator export facilities which are amassed on the disparity coast in the Eastern Province.

It would also hit to ensure, along with the naval forces of another Gulf Arab states, that the chokepoint Strait of Hormuz, the only artefact in and discover of the Gulf, is not closed by the Iranians and a fifth of the world's lubricator supplies revilement off.

The Saudis hit also indicated they designed to upgrade their marine and naval special forces, again mostly to furniture possibleness threats from Iran.

Right now, the Royal Arabian Naval Forces' capital combat ships are three French-built al-Riyadh-class destroyers brachiate with MM-40 Exocet anti-ship missiles and quaternary Madina-class F3000 La Fayette concealing frigates shapely by France's DCN yards in Lorient.

Riyadh at digit saucer thoughtful acquiring 6-8 submarines, with a price tag of $4 billion-$6 billion. But the program was shelved

However, Persia has quaternary Slavonic Kilo-class submarines, so the Saudis module hit to maintain, if not cows up, their anti-submarine struggle capability.