The US has agreed to sell more than $US10bn ($14bn) of top-of-the-line F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates to reward its recognition of Israel, potentially reshaping power dynamics in the turbulent region, Congress was informed Thursday.
In an informal but required notification to congress, Donald Trump’s administration said it had approved the sale of 50 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters — equivalent to Israel’s fleet of the jets — worth an estimated $US10.4bn, a congressional aide said.
If it goes ahead, the sale could “significantly change the military balance in the Gulf and affect Israel’s military edge,” said Representative Eliot Engel, a Democrat who leads the House of Representatives foreign affairs Committee.
Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, voiced scepticism, saying Mr Trump was rushing a deal without thinking through the consequences.
“Claiming Israel will maintain its edge while offering Abu Dhabi the same number of these sophisticated stealth warplanes as Israel simply does not add up,” Senator Menendez said.
The UAE — which has been increasingly assertive in the region, including in Yemen and Libya — sought the advanced warplanes as it was speaking to the US ahead of its landmark recognition of Israel last month.
Read the article by Shaun Tandon in The Australian.