December 22, 2007: While Venezuela is buying billions of dollars worth of weapons from Russia, it still has a two billion dollar contract with Spain to build eight warships. Four are 2,300 ton corvettes, and the other four are 1,500 ton coastal patrol boats. The deal was agreed to in 2005, but the contracts were not signed until last year. These ships are basically for the Venezuelan coast guard, and the two ship types are similar to U.S. Coast Guard ships. However, it's expected that the Venezuelan ships will be more heavily armed, with anti-ship missiles from West European or Russian sources. Same with anti-aircraft missiles. The ships are to be delivered within four years.