U.S., UAE May Agree on F-35 Deal by December: Report

Date: 22 September 2020 - 21:22

News ID: ۸۳۰۷۷

ABU DHABI (Dispatches) – The United States and the United Arab Emirates are reportedly set to have an initial agreement on the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to the Persian Gulf state in place by December, as the Trump administration studies how to structure a deal without irking the Zionist regime.
The Zionist regime has kept up the pressure on the United States not to provide the UAE with F-35 stealth fighter jets despite a recent normalization deal reached between the occupying regime and Abu Dhabi. Therefore, any deal must satisfy the Zionist regime that nags any U.S. weapons sold to the region must not impair the occupying regime’s "qualitative military edge.”
Observers say the complications that have followed the UAE-Zionist regime normalization agreement point to the flimsy nature of their relations, which have been received with uniform opposition from all Palestinian factions and many other countries.
Washington is studying ways to make Lockheed Martin’s F-35 more visible to the occupying regime’s radar systems, two sources told Reuters.
Zionist war minister Benny Gantz was due to meet his U.S. counterpart Mark Esper in Washington.
A Pentagon spokeswoman 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.”
Several political and regulatory hurdles must be cleared before the sale can be completed and Capitol Hill aides cautioned a deal may not be possible this year.
Ellen Lord, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer, told reporters in August that in general, the U.S. aims to complete a letter of agreement for new F-35 sales in about six months.
Because of the qualitative military edge restriction, the F-35 jets have been denied to Arab states, while the Zionist regime has about 24 of them.
The UAE, one of Washington’s closest Middle East allies, has long expressed interest in acquiring the stealth jets and was promised a chance to buy them in a side deal made when they agreed to normalize relations with the Zionist regime, Reuters said.
F-35 fighter jets sold to the UAE could be built in a way that ensures the same planes owned by the Zionist regime outperform any others sold in the region, defense experts told Reuters.
Washington already demands that any F-35 sold to foreign governments cannot match the performance of U.S. jets, a congressional staffer and a source familiar with past sales said.