On September 17, the US Department of State approved a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) for the sale to Saudi Arabia of up to 48 F-35A LIGHTNING II fighter jets and associated support materiel, at an estimated total cost of $24.3 billion — a remarkably high figure, especially compared to those agreed with other F-35 FMS customer nations.
In addition to the 48 aircraft, the FMS authorization includes the sale to the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) of 49 Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engines (48 for the fighters and 1 spare), along with spare parts, accessories, and support materials. The package also covers repair and return support, modification and maintenance support, as well as engineering, technical, and logistics support.
No details on the delivery timeline have been released so far.
As is well known, the US Administration — and the Trump Administration in particular — had long been pushing Lockheed Martin's fighter on the Kingdom: as early as last February, at the World Defense Show in Riyadh, a full-scale mockup of the aircraft was displayed (alongside a GA-ASI YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft) in RSAF livery, a signal that made the outcome of the deal anything but unexpected.
The Saudi export variant could be a "downgraded" version of the aircraft. Given that the F-35 is essentially a software-defined fighter, this would likely mean a version with scaled-back software-enabled capabilities and performance, in light of Israeli opposition to the sale. It is worth recalling that US legislation — the Arms Export Control Act, Section 36(h) — stipulates that any export or sale of military materiel to a Middle Eastern country must not compromise or undermine Israel's Qualitative Military Edge (QME): the Saudi variant will therefore feature reduced capabilities compared to the F-35I ADIR.
The deal now puts at risk the sale to the Kingdom of a 2nd batch of TYPHOON fighters, which until last year was considered almost certain, and consequently jeopardizes Riyadh's participation in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) as well.
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