US intel and satellite images show Saudi Arabia is now building its own ballistic missiles with help of China

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/23/politics/saudi-ballistic-missiles-china/index.html

<If this subject looks familiar it's because it is familiar. Anon remembers a front page story about this in the years leading up to 9-11.

The Saudi Armed Forces Chief of Staff was pretty up front about Saudi Arabia’s interest in replacing the CSS-2 missiles in a 1997 interview with Defense News. When Khaled bin Sultan made a visit to Beijing in 1999 to discuss “upgrading previous military purchases”, AP reported it as a trip about replacing the Kingdom’s ballistic missiles.

By January 2001, UPI’s Richard Sale quoted anonymous US officials stating that Saudi Arabia was seeking a “a better and brighter version” of the CSS-2, and that was a-ok with the (presumably Clinton) Administration as long as the new version was not “an offensive weapon that would be perceived as a threat to the kingdom’s neighbors.” (Richard Sale, “Saudis hunt for new missiles,” United Press International, January 19, 2001.)

https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/202761/china-and-saudi-bms/