Back to the 70s as search for new security architecture points to surprising designs


Issue 1000 - 22 Sep 2015 | 6 minute read

The 1970s opened with the Gulf monarchies searching for a security architecture fit for their purposes as the post-imperial United Kingdom withdrew from its dominance ‘east of Suez’. The six states that eventually created the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) in May 1981 – to which was added the Peninsula Shield force in 1984 – used the 1970s to resource their first major steps towards building well-equipped, western-backed armed forces. Riding high on a sea of petrodollars, Saudi Arabia was the world’s largest arms buyer by mid-decade, ordering $2.5bn-worth of arms in 1976 alone (approximately $10.5bn in today’s dollars).

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