Relationship dossier
Saudi Arabia
Spain
Relationship assessment
Defense-industrial cooperation alongside controversy over arms exports and the Yemen conflict
Saudi Arabia toward Spain
+35Saudi Arabia awarded Spain’s Navantia a contract to build corvettes, creating a substantial defense-industrial project involving Spanish shipbuilding. The agreement is a concrete example of Saudi government cooperation with Spain.
Spain toward Saudi Arabia
+25Spain has authorized arms exports to Saudi Arabia and supported defense-industrial cooperation, including Navantia’s work on Saudi naval vessels. In 2018, the Spanish government briefly halted a bomb shipment before reversing that decision, amid scrutiny linked to the Yemen conflict.
Overall relationship
+30The relationship includes substantial defense-industrial cooperation, notably the Saudi corvette contract awarded to Spain’s Navantia, but Spanish arms transfers have generated controversy in connection with the Yemen conflict. This combination supports a cooperative but qualified overall characterization.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Saudi Arabia and Spain have maintained substantive defense-industrial cooperation, including a Saudi contract for Spanish-built naval vessels and associated work by Spain’s Navantia. Spanish arms exports to Saudi Arabia have also been politically contentious, particularly amid the Yemen conflict; in 2018, Spain briefly halted a shipment of bombs before reversing the decision. These cooperative projects coexist with scrutiny of arms transfers.
Areas of tension
- Spanish arms exports to Saudi Arabia amid concerns about the Yemen conflict.
Key developments
Saudi Arabia awarded Spain’s Navantia a contract to build corvettes.
Spain briefly halted a shipment of bombs to Saudi Arabia and later reversed the decision.
Major uncertainties
- The extent and implementation of the naval and defense-industrial agreements are unclear.
- The scope of Spanish arms-export restrictions and their subsequent application is unclear.