President Trump said on Monday that he planned to sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, despite concerns from national security officials in his administration that a sale could create an opportunity for China to steal the planes’ advanced technology.
“We will be doing that, we’ll be selling F-35s,” Mr. Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office, explaining that the Saudis “want to buy them, they’ve been a great ally.”
Mr. Trump’s announcement came on the eve of a White House visit from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, during his first trip to the United States in more than seven years. Prince Mohammed, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, and U.S. officials are expected to discuss a Saudi purchase of 48 of the fighter jets and a potential mutual defense agreement.
The F-35 is made primarily by the defense contractor Lockheed Martin, which produces anywhere from 150 to 190 of the warplanes per year. About 20 countries either have or have ordered the planes, which currently cost about $80 million to $110 million each, depending on the model, according to recent contracts.
A 2024 study from the Government Accountability Office found that the cost of sustaining a fleet of the warplanes, which are designed to last for decades with normal use, can be far higher.
Saudi Arabia has long been the biggest purchaser of American weapons. But its conduct on the world stage has made some in government wary of the potential national security implications of giving Riyadh unfettered access to some of the United States’ most sensitive stealth technology.
A recent report from the Defense Intelligence Agency, part of the Pentagon, raised concerns that China would be able to access F-35 technology if the United States were to finalize a deal to sell Saudi Arabia the warplanes, as Riyadh and Beijing have a security partnership.
Officials have also raised concerns that such a sale could compromise Israel’s regional “qualitative military edge” as the only country in the Middle East that currently has F-35s in its war arsenal. Israel has been pushing for the Trump administration to broker a deal to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, a goal that was showing some promise before Hamas’s deadly invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The bloody years of hostilities that ensued in Gaza have largely ended the prospect of such a pact. The Trump administration does not appear to have pressed Saudi Arabia to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for approval of the F-35 sale. And there have been no indications that Saudi Arabia plans to normalize ties with Israel soon, given the anger among many Arabs over Israel’s war in Gaza.
