Reid was met on his arrival at Riyadh's air force base by his Saudi counterpart, Prince Khaled, the official SPA news agency said without providing further details.

On October 2, Saudi Arabia denied it was engaged in secret negotiations with Britain over the deal, but acknowledged that London would like to sell the plans to Riyadh.

"There are no secret negotiations between the two countries on the deal to sell the Typhoon planes," a defence ministry spokesman said at the time.

"But the British side has openly expressed a desire to supply Saudi Arabia with these planes, like any of the many friendly countries which produce sophisticated weapons systems."

On September 27, the British daily The Guardian reported that Britain had been in secret discussions with Saudi Arabia over a deal worth up to 40 billion pounds (71 billion dollars, 59 billion euros).

It said Reid sought to persuade Saudi Crown Prince Sultan to re-equip his air force with the European Typhoon, which is largely manufactured by British defence and aerospace giant BAE Systems.

The Guardian quoted anonymous defence, diplomatic and legal sources as saying negotiations were stalling because the Saudis were demanding "three favours."

Riyadh allegedly demanded that Britain expels two anti-Saudi dissidents, resume British Airways flights to Riyadh and drop a corruption investigation implicating the Saudi ruling family and BAE.

The Saudi defense official said his country's arms purchases were driven by "operational needs, and not against any political deals."

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