Forty-eight F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters and 49 Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engines, valued at $24.3 billion, are now cleared for transfer to Saudi Arabia after the US State Department announced Thursday it would pursue the sale. The deal would make Saudi Arabia only the second nation in the Middle East capable of operating fifth-generation stealth aircraft, a distinction currently held by Israel.
The sale still requires Congressional approval, and actual delivery of the aircraft would extend years into the future. Those are not minor caveats. The path from State Department announcement to operational jets on Saudi runways runs through a legislature that has already shown skepticism about deepening military ties with Riyadh.
Additional reference context is available at https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/the-president/trump-admin-approves-sale-of-stealth-f-35-fighter-jets-to-saudi-arabia.
Saudi Arabia has pursued F-35 acquisition for years, having already built a substantial inventory of US military hardware including F-15 fighter jets. Officials in Riyadh made a direct appeal to Trump in early 2025, and the administration responded. This proposed sale follows the approval of a nearly $142 billion defense cooperation agreement with the kingdom, which the White House described as the largest defense cooperation agreement in its history.
The State Department framed the transaction in operational terms, stating that the sale would improve security for a major non-NATO ally serving as a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf region, and would enhance Saudi Arabia’s capability to deter current and future threats while strengthening its air-to-air and air-to-ground self-defense capability.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials had previously raised sharp objections to the prospect of Saudi Arabia acquiring the platform. An Israeli security source told CNN in November that Saudi acquisition of the fifth-generation fighter jet would be “very concerning,” adding that “the severity of the concern was not exaggerated.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also openly opposed F-35 sales to Turkey, warning such a move would destroy the power balance in the Middle East. Following Thursday’s announcement, Israeli officials had not immediately commented.
US law requires that Israel retain a qualitative military edge over other regional states, effectively guaranteeing it receives more advanced American weapons than neighboring Arab countries. The State Department addressed this directly, asserting that the proposed sale “would not alter the military balance in the region.”
Congressional resistance remains a real operational risk. Some members have cited Saudi Arabia’s ties to China as grounds for caution, a concern with recent precedent. During Trump’s first administration, the US advanced plans to sell F-35s to the United Arab Emirates, but the Biden administration ultimately killed that deal over worries about UAE military cooperation with Beijing. Analysts point out that comparable concerns apply to Saudi Arabia, yet the current administration has pressed forward regardless.
The sale was originally conceived as part of a broader diplomatic package tied to Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel, which would have given the two countries direct lines of communication and handed Trump a foreign policy milestone. That linkage appears to have been dropped. The administration is now concentrating on advancing the arms sales without the normalization condition attached.
The announcement landed against a deteriorating security backdrop. Days before Thursday’s State Department notice, Saudi oil facilities and military bases came under attack from Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Houthi drones and missiles have repeatedly targeted the kingdom’s oil complexes, disrupting operations and threatening supply routes during a conflict that has stretched across a decade. The Saudi-led coalition has pledged to “resolutely confront” what it describes as hostile Houthi actions.
The F-35 Lightning II, developed by Lockheed Martin at the request of the US military, is widely regarded as the world’s most advanced fighter jet. It is also the most expensive weapons program in US history. Whether Congress ultimately clears the transfer, and on what timeline, will determine whether Thursday’s announcement translates into actual capability on the ground.