Chris Gordon reports in Air & Space Forces Magazine that President Trump has said his administration will sell the F-35 stealth fighter to Saudi Arabia. Currently, the only country in the Middle East to own the F-35 is Israel. Gordon writes:
President Donald Trump said he plans to sell F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, announcing his decision Nov. 17, a day before he meets the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House.
“We will be doing that. We’ll be selling F-35s,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about a possible sale of the Lockheed Martin-made fifth-generation fighters. Trump did not provide specifics of a proposed sale, including how many jets the Saudis are seeking to purchase.
On Nov. 18, bin Salman, the de facto Saudi leader, plans to meet with Trump at White House before attending a formal dinner at the executive mansion. The next day, there will be a U.S.-Saudi investment meeting at the Kennedy Center.
The F-35 deal was widely expected to be a goal of bin Salman’s visit to the U.S., along with access to advanced U.S. technology, including computer chips for artificial intelligence and an agreement to begin talks on civilian nuclear power cooperation.
The crown prince’s visit to the U.S. is his first since the 2018 murder of Jamal Koshigohi by Saudi officials, which ostracized the Saudi leader.
“They want to buy them,” Trump added of the F-35 arrangement with Saudi Arabia. “They’ve been a great ally.”
News reports indicate Saudi Arabia has been seeking to buy some 48 F-35s. The average cost of the most recent lot of F-35s—across all variants—costs around $100 million.
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