Middle East Press: Saudi Arabia Refuses to Link Possible F-35 Purchase with Israel Deal

In the Middle East media, materials are published that describe the reaction of the Saudi Arabian authorities to the American proposal for a deal with Israel.

The Middle East Monitor reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman refused to make any political concessions in exchange for receiving F-35 fighters from the United States. In this case, the main "political concessions" mean complete normalization of relations with the State of Israel.

From the material:

Mohammed bin Salman emphasized that if Saudi Arabia decided to submit a request to the United States for the purchase of F-35 fighters, then it does so openly, with full transparency, without making deals behind closed doors.

At the same time, the Crown Prince of the Saudi Kingdom added that the country is interested in updating its aircraft fleet and that Riyadh has an interest in the latest fighters.

Earlier, the prince reported that he informed US President Donald Trump about Saudi Arabia's interest in fifth-generation American fighters. Now Ben Salman specifies that this interest and the possible purchase itself does not imply any linkage with any "parallel deals".

It is worth recalling that the sale of 50 F-35 fighters to the United Arab Emirates was previously agreed. At the same time, Washington was "negotiating" with Israel.

One of the comments to an article in the said publication stated that "the sale of F-35 fighters by the Americans is more like milking cows."

Comments

[Maki maki]

does it openly, with full transparency, without making deals behind closed doors

But who admits such things.

[A. Privalov]

It is not yet a matter of linking or not linking. Maybe they don't really need the F-35 at all. The Saudis are enraged like a marriageable bride who has been pretending to be a virgin for too long, who has been galloped by a broken neighbor.
The OAU turned out to be more pragmatic - they have a normalization agreement with Israel in their pocket, and they will receive the F-35 on time, and already in the port of Haifa, under unloading / loading, Emirati container ships are queuing up.
In our area, the customs are simple: I clicked a bread slicer - I was left without porridge. The Saudis know and understand this very well, but apparently, show-offs are dearer to them.

[Vitaly gusin]

Quote: A. Privalov

The Saudis know and understand this very well, but apparently, show-offs are dearer to them.

And they know and understand, but as you know they respect their parents very much. King Salman was born and raised during the years of inciting hatred towards Israel and remembers the time of the adoption of the "Khartoum resolution". The resolution called for the continuation of the struggle against Israel, for the rejection of peace with Israel, without recognition of Israel and without negotiations with Israel. And then there was the peaceful "Saudi Initiative" and all this "sank into oblivion."
But time changes everything and it is clear that without the permission of the SA, Bahrain never signed an agreement with Israel. It was a touchstone.

[A. Privalov]

Quote: Vitaly Gusin

And they know and understand, but as you know they respect their parents very much. King Salman was born and raised during the years of inciting hatred towards Israel and remembers the time of the adoption of the "Khartoum resolution". The resolution called for the continuation of the struggle against Israel, for the rejection of peace with Israel, without recognition of Israel and without negotiations with Israel. And then there was the peaceful "Saudi Initiative" and all this "sank into oblivion."
But time changes everything and it is clear that without the permission of the SA, Bahrain never signed an agreement with Israel. It was a touchstone.

Traditional oriental bazaar. Sudan bargained to the last, but nevertheless recognized Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and achieved for itself exclusion from the "black list" of sponsors of terror. The Saudis will also continue to win out some preferences and will definitely get something. 4-5 more countries are on the way interested in normalizing relations with Israel. They are sick and tired of parasites - "Palestinians" for more than 50 years holding dozens of Arab countries by the balls, turning their pockets inside out and forcing them to give up a lot of their own political and economic benefits in the name of far-fetched "brotherly solidarity".

[Thrifty]

Halts Happy Holidays! There is still a question of questions for the Saudis to buy f35 profitably, or is it profitable to sell them to the Saudis for the USA! The equipment there will be different, and the price is higher than for the Israelis, and only the Yankees will be engaged in the service. ..

[A. Privalov]

Quote: Thrifty

Halts Happy Holidays! There is still a question of questions for the Saudis to buy f35 profitably, or is it profitable to sell them to the Saudis for the USA! The equipment there will be different, and the price is higher than for the Israelis, and only the Yankees will be engaged in the service. ..

Mutually!
Buying weapons is the worst investment in government money. Accordingly, only the seller benefits here.
The package will be the one that the Saudis will order. The price is appropriate.
By the way, prices are clearly falling and are already falling below 80 million per plane.
The F-35A in 2020 will still be delivered at a price of 82,4 million, in 2021 - 79,17 million, and in 2022 - 77,9 million per aircraft. Accordingly, other modifications will also become cheaper: the F-35B, which allows vertical landing, and the deck F-35C.
For Israel, it is a little cheaper, since it takes cars in the lowest basic configuration - so that they can only fly to Israel. As you know, Israel puts practically all avionics of its own production, in particular, electronic warfare systems and cockpit equipment, with the integration of weapons of its own production into the OMS.
As for the service, I cannot say anything intelligible at the moment. Let's look closer to the body, as they say. Usually, technicians are trained in parallel with the pilots, but in Saudi Arabia they really like to have someone do the work for them, outsourcing has been flourishing everywhere for a long time, so anything can be.

[Umalta]

A very dubious acquisition - the F-35, considering everything that is available in open sources about this flying trough.

[Zaurbek]

And rightly so. Then Congress, retroactively, will ban the sale.

[Tsoy]

American sales of F-35 fighters are more like milking cows. "

Bad milkers from the United States could then sell new F-15s that were more expensive than the 35th. But no. Foolish what to take from them.

[Zaurbek]

CA is the first customer and largest user of F15EX (or CA)

[Tsoy]

CA is the first customer and largest user of F15EX (or CA)

These are different modifications. Even the radars are different. EX just went into production, and SA was already delivered to the customer in 2016.

[Turanov]

At the same time, Washington was "negotiating" with Israel.

Everything is immediately clear ...

[rocket757]

To admit that they have recognized and cooperate with Israel, for the leaders of the Muslim world, what they want to be, is not comme il faut!
Moreover, the Sultan specifically climbs on this role !!!
The East, however, has its own religious troubles!

[Polymer]

Quote: rocket757

To admit that they have recognized and cooperate with Israel, for the leaders of the Muslim world, what they want to be, is not comme il faut!

From! Therefore, there is a suspicion that the United States is not very willing to sell the F-35 to the Saudis. And the condition of the deal with Israel is beneficial for the United States in any case: if they don't want to - they won't sell it, they will agree - it will be the "wrong" Muslims, then they can be registered in the LGBT community, and under this sauce they can sell the "penguins". .. in 5 years, to be sure.

[rocket757]

BV, this is harder than I know. For a long time I have not been interested in that direction, with the exception of Turkish affairs ... neighbors, after all, and they have more weight than all the others put together, even Egypt, a historical, personal interes.

[Runoway]

The Emirates will definitely not get any advantage from this deal, their demo versions of the F-35 are an expensive helpless toy compared to the F-35 of Israel, which are well aware of the penguin's weaknesses and have their own software.
And in general, such a deal is very similar to the events of the past.

[Simple]

F-35 for the Emirates - F-22 for Israel?
The United Arab Emirates is expected to receive up to 50 Lockheed Martin F-35s in the near future. This is a topic for conversation about the superiority of Israel in the Middle East. The Israelis want to take advantage of this opportunity - and are looking for the F-22 Raptor fighter in the US.
After the end of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, legislation was passed in the United States. It states that the United States will always guarantee Israel technological superiority over its Arab neighbors in arms matters. For this reason, among other things, the sale of the most modern American fighter aircraft Lockheed Martin F-35 to the Arab world was not even considered.

Israel gives the green light
However, after the rapprochement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the signing of a peace agreement two weeks ago, the situation is starting to change. The Israeli government recently said it would not be an obstacle if the United States decided to also supply the UAE with the F-35, which has been in service with the Israelis since late 2016. The White House has now told the US Congress that it will approve the sale of 50 F-35s to the Emirates. Jared Kushner, adviser and son-in-law to US President Trump, some time ago promised the Arabs the prospect of airplanes if their relations with Israel normalize.

Politician: "Don't support anyone!"
This announcement was not only met with congressional approval. Eliot Engel, a House Democratic MP, expressed concern that such a deal could "significantly alter the military balance in the Gulf and affect Israel's military advantage." Engel urged not to support anyone. “The export of this aircraft requires careful consideration,” the politician said. Therefore, Congress must first examine all the associated effects.

"F-35 light" for the Emirates?
If this investigation turns out to be negative, Congress could block the $ 10,4 billion deal. However, it has already been heard from government circles that the United States wants to guarantee Israel military superiority over its neighbors in the future. "US officials have said they can give this guarantee regardless of F-35 sales, without publicly showing what they want to offer Israel," Bloomberg news agency wrote. Therefore, it is quite possible that the UAE will receive a trimmed version of the F-35, which will not be able to compare with the Israeli F-35I "Adir" - for example, due to weaker software.

Or an F-22 for Israel?
However, the Israelis could have received a completely different caliber fighter from the United States in return. One of these, which has been owned by the United States Air Force for many years: the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. The Israelis have looked at this superfighter repeatedly in the past, but the US Senate has faithfully flashed it. Now the situation may change in this regard: the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat writes, citing "high-ranking sources" in Tel Aviv, that the Trump administration has already approved the export of F-22s to Israel. Something similar is reported by the Australian website Defense Connect.
Serial production (F-22) may start again
Meanwhile, it remained unclear how many planes Israel could receive and where they should take off from. The F-22 has not been built since 2011, and the US Air Force is unlikely to sell its 187 copies. However, the manufacturing facility, tools and video of the Raptor assembly process still exist. For many years, there was also talk of resuming serial production of the fighter. Thus, the idea is not completely absurd, especially since it has already found supporters in both parliamentary groups in the House of Representatives.

https://www.flugrevue.de/militaer/f-35-fuer-die-emirate-f-22-fuer-israel/

[Alien From]

Near, far ...... sneeze at them!