On October 28, 1981, the Senate approved the sale of five AWACS advanced military aircraft to Saudi Arabia. “An unwritten agreement lay behind what had been framed merely as the sale of five airplanes. In return for an integrated package of highly sophisticated military technology, Saudi Arabia would build a massive network of naval and air defense facilities that could sustain U.S. forces should they ever be needed to protect the region or wage war against an aggressor.”
– Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, Page 60