RIYADH, July 22: Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz on Saturday signed a military deal with France for the purchase of helicopters and other weapons worth $3.8 billion.

The prince, who is also the defence minister, signed the agreement during his visit to Paris, where he also held meetings with French President Jacques Chirac.

Although Saudi Arabia earlier had also placed an order with British Aerospace for a number of fighter aircraft worth billions of dollars, France was still trying to promote the sales of Rafale aircraft and its state-of-the-art tank, Leclerc.

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