F-35 UAE 2017

US Officials Say They Can Seal F-35 Sale to UAE Before Trump Leaves
04 Dec 2020 Marcus Weisgerber

"But that would depend on both Congress and the Gulf state.

The U.S. could seal a controversial deal sale of F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates before President Trump exits the White House in January, a top defense official said Friday. “You ask if it’s possible? Absolutely it’s possible,” said Heidi Grant, who leads the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the Pentagon office that oversees foreign arms sales. Grant was asked by reporters at the Pentagon whether UAE could sign a contract for the planes before Jan. 20, when President-elect Joe Biden is to be sworn in as president. “But we don’t control it,” she said during a briefing at the Pentagon....

...Even if Congress does not block the sale, a number of bureaucratic hurdles remain before a contract for Lockheed Martin-made jets is finalized. UAE must submit a letter of offer and acceptance, or LOA, to the State Department. “That’s a bilateral process between the United States and UAE,” R. Clarke Cooper, the assistant secretary of state for Political-Military Affairs, said during Friday’s briefing. “That does not have a particular set timeline. Obviously, when we work on LOAs, in any case, the partners certainly would like to see it done sooner than later, but it does not have date specificity.”"

Source: https://www.defenseone.com/business/202 ... es/170516/

US Could Finalize UAE F-35 Deal By Inauguration Day
08 Jan 2021 Paul McLeary

"Congress narrowly failed to block the controversial $23 billion deal the Trump administration forged with the UAE, and the Biden team has expressed skepticism, but the rush is on to wrap it up

WASHINGTON: The US and UAE might finalize the first of several contracts on a controversial $23.3 billion arms package before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20, a top State Department official said today.

“Everything’s in the trajectory for conclusion,” R. Clarke Cooper, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, told reporters Friday. “The sales, of course, have been well put together by the interagency and have cleared our Congress as well.”

The deal, which includes 50 F-35A fighters worth $10.4 billion, 18 MQ-9B drones at $2.97 billion, and $10 billion worth of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions, drew criticism from some lawmakers, who worried about the possible erosion of Israeli military supremacy in the region.

Biden’s nominee to be Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, told reporters in November the pending sale “is something we would look at very, very carefully, and make sure that the QME (Qualitative Military Edge) is preserved and also — very important — that Congress play a role.”

Blinken met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the first time today, a State Department official confirmed...."

Source: https://breakingdefense.com/2021/01/us- ... ation-day/

Lawsuit threatens $23B weapons sale to UAE [Lots more ladedah at the URL]
12 Jan 2021 Joe Gould

"WASHINGTON ― A small, 2-year-old nonprofit think tank has taken a step that most advocacy organizations never dare try: It has sued the U.S. State Department to derail a $23 billion arms sale to the United Arab Emirates.

In a legal claim announced last month, the New York Center For Foreign Policy Affairs asserted that the Trump administration failed to provide a reasonable explanation for its decision to sell F-35 fighter jets and other weapons to the UAE, which places it in breach of the Administrative Procedure Act. It has asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to find the sale invalid.

The case is unusual, as is the theory of the case, but so is the Trump administration’s approach to the sale, said Brittany Benowitz, a legal expert on human rights and arms trade. Such legal challenges rarely succeed, but if this one does, it could halt the deal even if Washington and Abu Dhabi follow through with plans to sign contracts in the waning days of the Trump administration. “If you can say this deal was executed improperly and the contractor was on notice of that, which they are, then I think you can say it’s possible to stop the sale before delivery,” Benowitz said....

In the U.S., there has not been a successful court case of targeting government-to-government sales in recent years, according to Benowitz. What’s also unusual about the New York Center For Foreign Policy Affairs’ approach is that it doesn’t rely on a human rights argument but rather points to aberrations in the process ― particularly past end-use violations that ought to have disqualified the UAE, she said.

“There have been court challenges to arms sales in the past on human rights grounds, but this challenge on national security grounds under the Administrative Procedure Act is unprecedented,” she said. “It’s rare because we have never had a record of irregularities like the one we have now.”

By Benowitz’s reckoning, if a finalized deal is invalidated in the courts and it is found that the deal never should have been entered in the first place, its unlikely the U.S. could be penalized financially by the UAE. “To get a remedy, or damages, under contract law, you have to have ‘clean hands,’ so it would be difficult for the Emiratis to recoup,” she said."

Source: https://www.defensenews.com/congress/20 ... le-to-uae/

UAE signs deal with U.S. to buy 50 F-35 jets and up to 18 drones: sources
21 Jan 2021 Mike Stone

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has signed an agreement with the United States to purchase 50 F-35 jets and up to 18 armed drones, people familiar with the situation told Reuters on Wednesday.

Although the UAE and the United States were working to ink a deal before President Joseph Biden took office on Wednesday, the new president has said he will re-examine the agreements....

...One of the people said the agreement was signed about an hour before Biden was sworn into office. The document gave the United Arab Emirates the chance to accept the negotiated schedule and configuration of the jets while also making the purchase request official.

The UAE has had the paperwork for more than a week, the people said. The UAE and the United States had once hoped to have a deal in place in December, but the timing of jet deliveries, their cost, the technology packages and training associated with the deal extended negotiations, the people said....

...The final in-country delivery date for the F-35 jets could not immediately be confirmed, but the initial proposal sent to UAE said 2027, the people said."

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-emi ... SL1N2JV1UM

Hardly, surprising......


If, Biden cancels it that would spells doom and gloom for Military Sales and the US Economy in general......

Hardly, surprising......


If, Biden cancels it that would spells doom and gloom for Military Sales and the US Economy in general......

Biden's administration will destroy that deal. Why? Biden did want to go back to the craptastic treaty of appeasement to Iran. What better way to start that process then to torpedo UAE getting F-35s? UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco didnt decide to normalize with Israel because they liked them, NO. Those countries in the ME know that Iran is a threat to their security and economy.

Hardly, surprising......


If, Biden cancels it that would spells doom and gloom for Military Sales and the US Economy in general......

that not really the issue.

If the US doesn't reopen in the next 3 months thats it. it sinks, and the damage becomes permanant, and its going to be a 5 year grind to get back to the Trump economy -- if it ever really comes back all the way at all. It doesn't really hinge on the sale of military sales. If you look at the loss of GDP over the last 9 months that's a drop in the bucket compared to military sales.

So yes its good to get sales, no the US economy doesn't hinge on this even if the UAE bought 1,000 of them.

Is that final now or can the new administration stop it if they want to?

Did you know TURKEY was stopped from receiving/buying the F-35A (and later possibly the F-35B for their new LHD)?

Just hours before Biden’s inauguration, the UAE and US come to a deal on F-35 sales
20 Jan 2021 Valerie Insinna

"...A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed separately to Defense News that the U.S. and UAE officials on Wednesday signed a letter of agreement, which solidifies the terms of a foreign military sale between two nations.

The departments of State and Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment....

...It’s unclear whether the incoming administration will seek to undo the deal. Biden’s pick for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told reporters in late October that the sale is “something we would look at very, very carefully,” due to U.S. obligations to preserve Israel’s qualitative military edge...."

Source: https://www.defensenews.com/global/mide ... -35-sales/

Just hours before Biden’s inauguration, the UAE and US come to a deal on F-35 sales
20 Jan 2021 Valerie Insinna

"...A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed separately to Defense News that the U.S. and UAE officials on Wednesday signed a letter of agreement, which solidifies the terms of a foreign military sale between two nations.

Personally, I hope this deal is rejected. The diplomatic and alliance problems and major inconsistencies it would create, as well as risks, are absolutely not worth it.

Far better to have UAE realize pushing it was over-reach, and quite inappropriate in the circumstances. If they get embarrassed they have only themselves to blame, they should have known better. They will just make a big song and dance about it, to try and make it stick.