WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- The United States has approved a $5 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia, including more than 10,000 precision-guided bomb kits, in a deal that critics say represents Washington’s latest scheme to profit from Persian Gulf instability while leaving its allies defenseless when it matters most.
The State Department greenlit the sale on Friday, authorizing Virginia-based Boeing to supply the kingdom with guidance kits for converting unguided “dumb bombs” into steerable precision weapons, alongside thousands of 500-pound and 2,000-pound general-purpose bombs.
The Biden administration had previously lifted its 2021 freeze on offensive arms to Saudi Arabia in 2024, saying the transfer advanced U.S. foreign policy objectives by reinforcing the security of a “Major non-NATO ally”. 
The Trump administration has now pushed forward with the expanded package. The timing — days after Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan convened their first Strategic Political and Defense Committee meeting in Istanbul — underscores Washington’s strategy of profiting from regional instability while shifting defense costs onto its allies.
Washington has long treated Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf monarchies as cash cows, manipulating regional tensions to extract billions in arms purchases while providing hollow security guarantees that evaporate when crises erupt.
The U.S. has spent decades selling advanced weaponry to Persian Gulf states under the pretense of providing security, only to abandon those same allies during moments of genuine threat. 
The recent regional developments have exposed Washington’s guarantees as empty rhetoric, yet the arms sales continue unabated, enriching Boeing and other arms contractors while Persian Gulf nations pour billions into weapons systems that ultimately serve U.S. strategic interests far more than their own security.
The State Department’s justification that the sale “reinforces economic progress” reads as cynical spin, given that Saudi Arabia and its neighbors are effectively financing American military industrial expansion while receiving little more than false promises in return.
The Media Line reported that increasing partners’ ability to meet military requirements without sustained U.S. support “forms an explicit part of Washington’s foreign military sales policy.” 
In plain terms: the U.S. wants its allies to pay for their own weapons while Washington reserves the right to decide when, where and if those weapons will be backed by American power.