Raytheon interested in Saudi market

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ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Raytheon is interested in expanding its presence in the Middle East.

Among its new markets, Raytheon, the world's largest missile maker, is interested in providing U.S. Middle East allies with advanced anti-ballistic missile systems.

Arabianbusiness.com reported Monday that Raytheon International Chief Executive Officer Thomas Culligan told journalists that in Saudi Arabia Raytheon was already seeking a contract to upgrade to the United States-supplied Patriot system and that, "Hopefully we will get a contract signed on that."

Culligan added that Kuwait is upgrading and buying additional Raytheon International ABM units and that Qatar "is looking at" the system, a statement on the Raytheon Web site said.

In late 2008 the United Arab Emirates bought a $3.3 billion ABM missile-defense system.

Culligan noted that Raytheon "has other projects with Saudi Arabia," including homeland security and cybersecurity deals.

In October the Obama administration announced its intention to sell Saudi Arabia up to $60 billion in weapons in the largest arms export deal in U.S. history, under which terms Raytheon is hoping to deliver as much as $4 billion in military equipment.