US State Department approves sale of F-35 jets to UAE

The US State Department yesterday announced that it is backing the sale of up to 50 F-35 fighter jets to the UAE.

It would make the Emirates the first Arab country to acquire one of the most advanced weapons systems yet built.

Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the F-35 is America’s next-generation stealth fighter jet.

The sale, which is valued at $10.4 billion, is “recognition of our deepening relationship and the UAE’s need for advanced defence capabilities to deter and defend itself against heightened threats from Iran”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

“The proposed sale will make the UAE even more capable and interoperable with

US partners in a manner fully consistent with America’s long-standing commitment to ensuring Israel’s qualitative military edge.”

As well as the F-35, the State Department also notified Congress about plans to sell other sophisticated systems to the UAE. The total bill could come to as much as $23.37bn.

Last month, UAE ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba told The National that the country had been trying to acquire the F-35 for six years, and while movement on the issue was tied to the Abraham Accord, it was not a result of it.

“There are other items that we’ve been trying to acquire since [US president George W] Bush was in office,” he said.

“So, these are things that we have operational requirements for, that have simply been held up, largely because of either [Israel’s] qualitative military edge or other release ability issues.

“We’ve now, I think, cleared this bottleneck.”

US President Donald Trump supported the move.

“I would have no problem in selling them the F-35, I would have absolutely no problem,” Mr Trump told Fox News this month.

“We’ve never had a dispute with [the] UAE. They’ve always been on our side.”