A huge contract which comes in the middle of the conflict in the Middle East. The US government approved on Thursday September 17 a $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 stealth fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.
As required by US law, the State Department has informed Congress of this proposed sale, which will require approval by US lawmakers. Some are opposed to it partly due to fears that the technology of this cutting-edge device could leak to China.
“The proposed sale will strengthen Saudi Arabia’s ability to deter current and future threats by strengthening its national defense and improving interoperability with U.S. forces,” the State Department said in justifying the proposed sale.
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“Strategic partnership”
Saudi Arabia welcomed this announcement, emphasizing through its embassy in Washington that “the proposed sale of F-35 demonstrates the strength and enduring nature of the strategic partnership between Saudi Arabia and the United States, as well as the constant progression of our defense cooperation”.
Riyadh has long sought to acquire F-35s, but Israel – the only country in the region to operate these planes – had expressed strong reservations.
This sale of aircraft “will also increase the number of Saudi Arabia’s operational aircraft and strengthen its air-to-air and air-to-ground self-defense capabilities,” the State Department said. But he said it “will not change the military balance in the region,” consistent with long-standing US policy that Israel must have a military advantage over potential regional adversaries.
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The actual delivery of these aircraft should take place over several years.
A technology “within the reach of the Chinese Communist Party”
The New York Times reported this week that U.S. intelligence analysts had raised the possibility that Beijing could acquire F-35 technology through its partnerships with Riyadh.
“The Trump administration should not follow through on its plan to sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia when our own intelligence services warn us that this could put the jewels of American military technology within the reach of the Chinese Communist Party,” warned a Democratic elected official, Raja Krishnamoorthi, member of the Intelligence Committee in the House of Representatives.
So far, the United States has only authorized the sale of F-35, an ultra-sophisticated fighter jet, to its closest allies, including several European NATO members and Israel.
Washington excluded NATO member Turkey from the F-35 program in 2019, protesting Ankara’s purchase of a Russian air defense system.
Series of major arms purchases
The acquisition is the latest in a series of major arms purchases by Saudi Arabia this year amid conflict in the Middle East sparked by US-Israeli strikes against Iran launched in February. Since then, Saudi Arabia has been drawn into the conflict.
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Regularly hit by Iran, since July it has also faced an offensive by Yemeni Houthi anti-government forces, supported by Tehran, which is placing Riyadh, the world’s leading exporter of crude oil, under heavy pressure.
According to a US official, an American military unit is working to strengthen intelligence sharing with Saudi Arabia in the face of Houthi attacks.
At the beginning of September, the State Department announced that it had approved a sale of more than 10,000 bombs to Riyadh, for an amount of $5 billion, but Washington did not commit to intervening directly against the Houthis.
With AFP
