During President Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, he signed a historic $142 billion defense sales agreement aimed at providing advanced military equipment. This deal may include aircraft and missiles, though exact details are sparse. Discussions of Saudi Arabia acquiring the F-35 fighter jet were brought up, but complications arise due to Israel's military advantages. The U.S. must navigate legal obligations to Israel while considering Saudi interests. Experts suggest that an F-35 deal could happen, but significant downgrades may reduce its appeal to Saudi Arabia.
"I think an F-35 deal could be agreed upon even absent Saudi-Israeli normalization; however, to proceed with the F-35 package, it would have to be significantly downgraded to preserve Israel's qualitative military edge."
"Such downgrades might diminish the overall sale's attractiveness to the Saudis."
Neither the White House nor administration officials have provided further details about which specific systems the deal may include, such as the advanced fighter Riyadh has wanted."
Washington is legally obligated to preserve Israel's military advantage by, among other things, not selling military hardware to regional countries that are as or more advanced than Israel's arsenal.
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