Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump’s administration says it has approved the sale of nearly 50 F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a policy shift for the US that has raised concerns from some members of Congress.
Saudi Arabia has sought for years to buy the world’s most advanced warplane, equipped with stealth technology that allows it to evade enemy detection.
Washington had resisted, partly because it supplies F-35s to its ally Israel, which is guaranteed under US law to receive top-of-the-range American weapons compared with those its regional neighbours can access.
Congress has 30 days to scrutinise or attempt to block the $24bn (£17.8bn) sale to Riyadh, which is the largest customer for US weapons.
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, a Democrat, opposed the sale on Thursday.
He warned “it could put the crown jewels of American military technology within reach of the Chinese Communist Party”.
Other Democratic lawmakers and some American defence officials have raised similar concerns about giving F-35s to Saudi Arabia.
They said Riyadh might share the sensitive technology with China under a security partnership between the two countries.
The state department said in announcing the deal on Thursday that it would support US “foreign policy and national security objectives”.
It said the deal would improve “the security of a major non-Nato ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf region”.
“The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the military balance in the region,” the state department added.
Trump has a close relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who visited the White House last November.
The two also met in May last year in Riyadh, where a $142bn arms sale was sealed – described by the White House as the “largest defence sales agreement in history”.
The latest proposed sale announced to Saudi Arabia would include 48 F-35s, which are built by the arms company Lockheed Martin.
This would place the country on a level with Israel, which currently has a fleet of 50 jets.
However, Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs announced in May that it would procure another F-35 squadron.
This deal would double the size of Israel’s F-35 fleet to 100, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Just one of Lockheed Martin’s F-35A jets costs about $82.5m.
Congress has previously questioned arms deals with Riyadh after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Former US President Joe Biden’s administration considered supplying F-35s to Saudi Arabia if Riyadh would normalise its relations with Israel, but that diplomatic effort faltered.
The proposed sale comes as the Saudis are engaged in fighting with the Houthis, an Iran-backed armed group that controls much of western Yemen.
The Houthis have recently seized control of swathes of Yemen’s Red Sea coast from Saudi-backed pro-government forces.
The Saudi crown prince has personally pressed Trump to take military action against the Houthis, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News, the BBC’s US media partner.
But Trump has so far declined to involve the US military directly, the sources said.
Additional reporting by Sareen Habeshian
