U.S. relations with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates over the last decades have become an article of faith in America's strategic posture and calculations. Political, economic, and military ties have been forged since the end of the Second World War and have endured challenges emanating from within and outside the Middle East.

An important pillar of this relationship has been the importation by GCC countries of defense-related materials and training from the United States. Thus far, the amount has accounted for at least half a trillion dollars. GCC countries have also acquired weapons from Europe, Russia, China, and India, among others, although the majority of acquisitions have been from the United States.

This paper examines the trends of GCC arms importation from the United States. It considers the arms’ range, quantities, and kinds together with their impact on the American economy. The study also situates the arms acquisitions dynamic in the U.S.-GCC relationship within the overall strategic environment that governs political and other developments in the GCC states.

The first section provides brief background on how the United States became the GCC countries’ main protector and primary economic, financial, and geopolitical partner. The second section discusses the environment in which the GCC states, before and after the establishment of the organization on May 25, 1981, increasingly found themselves keen to purchase U.S. weapons to meet their defense and security requirements. Rather than provide a detailed account of the specifics of American arms exports to the GCC countries, which can be readily accessed in trade publications and which would entail a lengthier treatment than this chapter permits, the paper's third section summarizes the amounts, categories, and dates of the imported arms and discusses their relevance to strategic conditions then extant in the region. A fourth section reveals the impact of the efforts by Israel and American Israel lobby groups to thwart U.S. executive branch and private sector attempts to enter into arms sales agreements with one or more GCC countries. Finally, a short conclusion sums up the paper.

Origins of the GCC-U.S. Relationship

It is first important to address how the United States inherited Great Britain's imperial legacy in the GCC; only then can one hope to understand how U.S. arms became a vital export to the region and a critical component of American-Gulf relations.