Riyadh, Dec 22, SPA -- An official source of the Ministry of Defense and Aviation stated that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed here yesterday between the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. The MOU aims at deepening the partnership between the Two governments in modernizing the Saudi Arabian Armed forces and developing stronger relations between the military sectors of the Two countries through joint military exercise and training. In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the official said that based on the aforesaid MOU, Saudi Tornado Air-Defense aircraft and others currently in service of the Saudi Royal Air Forces will be replaced by Typhoon aircraft, and Britain will continue to develop a regional defense industrial center of excellence. In the same context, British Air Space company has agreed to invest large amounts of money in Saudi companies, develop a plan to transfer the associated technology to Saudi Arabia, employ thousands of Saudi citizens and enhance the nation's self-reliance ability to sustain equipment. The source added that this MOU comes within the British government's appreciation of the Saudi government's wise leadership to achieve regional stability and accomplish the Saudi-British realization of the joint goals toward global security and war on terrorism. --SPA 11 43 Local Time 08 43 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/313742