Why is Saudi Arabia buying 200 (admittedly good) Leopard II tanks from Germany when my copy of The Military Balance 2008 says Saudi Arabia has 200 Abrams tanks (at least as good as the Leopards and with a proven combat record) in storage? I'm sure the Saudis got a good deal, but still, this is perplexing. Why buy even sale items when you have something at least as good already on hand?
Could these be intended for the Saudi National Guard which has been equipped only with light armored vehicles (mostly personnel carriers)?
UPDATE: Some Germans are upset:
Selling tanks to Saudi Arabia at a time when that country has sent armoured vehicles to help put down a peaceful protest movement in neighbouring Bahrain is "a slap in the face for freedom movements in the whole region," Erler added.
Well, they are free to be upset, of course. But this reason is stupid. Why on Earth would Saudi Arabia need to use these new tanks--several years in the future after delivery and training, no doubt--when they don't need tanks to put down protests? Armored personnel carriers work just fine unless you want to tell me that Bahrain protesters will field anti-tank weapons.
And if Saudi Arabia needs tanks for this, they have hundred already. And they wouldn't need a couple hundred for the job. Seriously. In Afghanistan in a counter-insurgency fight, we only have about a company of tanks supporting the Marines, I believe. And there are few other tanks deployed in the entire 150,000 coalition force fighting there.
