United Arab Emirates Will Wholesale F-35 US ‘Stealth’ Fighter Jet

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will conclude an initial agreement on the purchase of the F-35 stealth fighter jet in December.

According to a source with knowledge of the negotiations, as quoted from Reuters, said his second goal is to have a letter of agreement by the time of the UAE National Day on 2 December.

The UAE, one of the US’s closest Middle East allies, has long expressed interest in acquiring the stealth jet, and was promised the opportunity to buy it in a deal that was drawn up when they agreed to normalize relations with Israel.

However, both the UAE Embassy in Washington and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment and declined to comment on the deal.

But a Pentagon spokesman told Reuters, “as a matter of policy, the United States does not confirm or comment on proposed defense sales or transfers until they are formally notified to Congress.”

Ellen Lord, the Pentagon’s top arms buyer, told reporters in August that the US aims to finalize a letter of agreement for the sale of the new F-35 in about six months.

The issue of this agreement arises when the Trump Administration is still studying and drafting the agreement without contradicting Israel.

Any deal must fulfill a decades-old agreement between the US and Israel which states that US weapons, which are sold to the Gulf states, must not interfere with Israel’s “qualitative military superiority”.

It must also ensure that US weapons supplied to Israel are “superior in capability” to weapons sold to its neighbors.

With that in mind, the US is studying ways to make the F-35 more visible to Israeli radar systems, two sources said. However this cannot determine whether to do so by replacing the jets, or providing Israel with a better radar.

As is well known, due to qualitative military edge restrictions, Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35s have been denied entry to the Arab country, while Israel already has about 24 jets.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

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