European EADS company to carry out one of biggest Mideast security projects – setting up fence which will encircle Saudi Arabia
Doron Peskin, 07.12.09, Ynet

The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) security technology company, together with the Saudi company al-Rashid, has been awarded one of the biggest security projects in the Middle East: The border security program sapnning the full borders of the Saudi Kingdom.
 
The project has be estimated at approximately $3.5 billion. Additional American and European companies took part in the bid for the tempting contract, including France's Thales, British BAE Systems and American company Raytheon.
 
The project includes an extensive use of advances technologies, including the installment of sophisticated radars along nearly 5,000 miles of the kingdom's borderlines.
 
The idea to set up a security fence on Saudi Arabia's border was first raised by Saudi authorities during the first Gulf War, after then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered a strike on a Saudi border town.
 
The idea, which was not implemented in the 1990s, gained momentum after the American invasion fIraq in March 2003 and the inter-religious violence which broke out in the region.
 
The Saudis feared that the al-Qaeda and Shiite terror raging in Iraq would leak into the kingdom's borders, and this led to the decision to build a security fence in the northern part of the kingdom.
 
Ever since then, the project has been expanded and the fence is now planned to encircle all of Saudi Arabia's land and sea borders. So far, Saudi Arabia has invested nearly $2 billion in stepping up security measures on its border with Iraq.
 
According to the al-Rashid company's reports, the agreement was signed last Tuesday in the city of Jeddah, just off the shores of the Red Sea.
 
Saudi Arabia is soon expected to issue a separate bid for the construction of a security fence on its border with Oman, and is expected to issue additional tenders for stepping up sea and aerial security measures.
 
Doron Peskin is head of research at Info-Prod Research (Middle East) Ltd.

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