Jan 24,
2024. Posted by Balkan
Periscope - Hellas
Despite
blessed with wealth and abundance of petro-dollar, the air forces of Gulf Arab
countries, especially Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar,
have yet to be equipped with fifth-generation fighter jets such as the F-35.
Saudi
Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar have bought advanced fighter jets from the American
and European companies with ease previously, but why were their efforts to
acquire the F-35 have been unsuccessful thus far.
Until now,
hundreds of F-35 fighter jets have been sold by the United States to its allies
worldwide, but not a single one of these advanced aircraft has been sold to the
wealthy Gulf Arab countries despite them being a close ally to Washington. Why?
Conditions
such as human rights records, politics, and others have been imposed by
Washington on these Gulf Arab countries if they want to own F-35 fighter jets,
proving a major stumbling block in realising their dream of owning a fifth
generation fighter aircraft.
In 2021,
the UAE had agreed to purchase 50 F-35 fighter jets and 18 MQ-9 Reaper drones
from the United States, during Donald Trump’s administration, in an estimated
$23 billion deal.
The agreement for purchase of F-35 had only
received a “green light” from Washington after the UAE agreed to establish
diplomatic relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords initiative.
The United
States was concerned that China might use Huawei’s 5G technology in the UAE to
spy on the capabilities of the F-35 fighter jets.
Although
Saudi Arabia has not established any diplomatic relations with Israel so far,
reports citing sources suggest that the Trump administration wanted Riyadh to
establish official relations with Tel Aviv before granting other “concessions.”
One of these concessions was that Israel would
not object if Washington wanted to sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia.
It is clear
that for Saudi Arabia and Qatar to be able to buy F-35 aircraft, both Gulf Arab
countries would need to establish diplomatic relations with Israel first.
F-35
Qatar, which hosts the largest number of American military personnel in the Middle East, has also submitted a request to Washington to acquire F-35 fighter jets.
However,
due to Doha’s close ties with the Hamas group, the United States has “looked
unfavorably” upon the request.
In reality,
Israel holds the “key” to whether the United States will permit Gulf Arab
countries to have F-35s or not. The decision lies in Tel Aviv’s hands rather
than Washington’s.
Numerous
obstacles to acquiring fifth-generation fighter aircraft have led Gulf Arab
countries to seek alternative solutions.
However,
the “alternative route” pursued by Gulf Arab countries does not promise any
positive developments.
Besides the F-35, fifth-generation fighter
aircraft are currently only operated by two countries, China and Russia.
China does
not sell its fifth-generation J-20 “Mighty Dragon” to other nations, while
Russia is still facing challenges in producing enough Su-57s for its air force.
With tight economic sanctions imposed on
Russia due to its conflict with Ukraine, the production issues of the Su-57 are
expected to persist, at least as long as the conflict in Eastern Europe
continues.
The CAATSA
(Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) threat also plays a
role in reducing the interest of Gulf Arab countries in acquiring Russian
fighter jets.
It appears
that the quest of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar to acquire fifth-generation
fighter aircraft will continue for some time.
Defense
Security