Saudi Arabia could become the first Arab country to sign a deal for F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters if all goes well between U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman
Saudi Arabia’s request for F-35 stealth fighters is currently being considered by Donald Trump’s administration, Reuters reported, citing informed sources. The multi-billion dollar deal has reportedly “cleared a key Pentagon hurdle” ahead of Mohammad Bin Salman’s visit to the White House on November 18, the report claimed.
The report follows the Trump administration’s May 2025 approval of a massive arms package worth nearly $142 billion for Saudi Arabia. The package included provisions for air and missile defense, air force and space advancement, maritime security and communications, but the F-35 was conspicuously missing.
Citing one of the sources, the Reuters report stated that Saudi Arabia had made a direct request for 48 F-35 fighters to US President Donald Trump earlier this year. This may be the first time that the scale and size of the request have been revealed.
The weapons sale “was moving through the system,” another US official told the publication, but noted that it would require “further approvals at the Cabinet level, sign-off from Trump, and notification of Congress” before it could be officially approved. Thus, laying down a long-drawn process for a sale to go through.
The source said the Pentagon’s policy department spent months working on the potential deal, and the issue has now advanced to the secretary level in the Defense Department.
More importantly, the report noted that the F-35 sale could be tied to a wider diplomatic effort, asserting that the Biden administration earlier assessed providing F-35s to Saudi Arabia as part of a comprehensive deal that would have included Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel.
Several analysts have echoed this sentiment in the past.
It must be noted that Riyadh was close to finalising a deal with Tel Aviv based on guarantees from the US in 2023, but the process was scuttled after Israel launched a bombing campaign on Gaza in response to the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. It would not be far-fetched to expect Trump, the architect of the Abraham Accords, to use the “normalization of ties” as leverage to secure approval for the F-35 deal.
Saudi Arabia currently has one of the most advanced and diverse air forces in the Gulf Arab region. The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) operates the F-15SA (on which the F-15EX is based), the F-15SR (an upgraded variant), the Eurofighter Typhoons, and the Panavia Tornado. It has, nonetheless, been looking to add more teeth to its air power amid evolving security challenges from rogue states and non-state actors in the Persian Gulf.
Saudi Arabia was earlier believed to be mulling the purchase of 100 Turkish KAAN stealth fighter jets, as an alternative to the F-35. The two sides began discussions on the potential acquisition in December 2024, following Saudi Arabia’s purchase of the Akinci unmanned aerial combat vehicle (UCAV) from Turkey. But if the Pentagon green-lights the F-35 sale, Riyadh could quickly sideline the KAAN project.
The Saudi kingdom officially expressed interest in acquiring F-35 stealth aircraft in 2017. However, the Pentagon has since dragged its feet to honour its commitment to protect Israel’s military edge in the region.
Hurting Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge?
Currently, only Israel operates the fifth-generation F-35 in the region, which ensures its complete military dominance. Israel initially ordered 50 F-35 Lightning II fighters from Lockheed Martin, followed by an additional order for 25 in 2023.
It operates a modified version of the F-35, called the F-35I “Adir,” tailored to meet Israel’s specific operational requirements. Israel was the first country to use the aircraft in combat.
In fact, the stealthy jet was used by Israel in its war against Iran, where it proved to be instrumental in conducting strike missions inside the Islamic Republic.
A potential sale of F-35 to Saudi Arabia could significantly alter the dynamics in the West Asian region.
So far, a major impediment in the sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states has been a long-standing agreement between the US and Israel, which stipulates that US weapons supplied to Israel should be “superior in capability” compared to those sold to Israel’s neighbors and rivals in the region. The US weapons sales in the region, even to its closest allies, cannot jeopardize Israel’s “qualitative military edge.”
Responding to the potential of F-35 sale to Saudi Arabia, an Israeli-based publication, The Jerusalem Post, published an article arguing that while the Saudis are close with the US and are a part of an unspoken and unofficial Middle East security alliance with Israel against Tehran, “they have also flirted with alliances with Russia and China, and have signed deals with Iran, which, however unlikely, could also have led to alliances.”
“If Riyadh gets the F-35 and shares the technology with Russia, China, or Iran, Israel’s qualitative edge over Tehran could be compromised, and it could also face other issues with Beijing and Moscow, which currently have a deep respect for Israel’s military,” it further noted, clearly making a case against the sale of F-35 to Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this year, some Israeli security officials told a local publication, Walla, that if the US approved the sale and it was allowed to go through by Congress, Israel would have to “reconsider its strategy.” However, they did not elaborate on what direction the new strategy might take.
Separately, some Israeli officials have also floated the idea that the F-35 sold to another country in the region could have degraded qualities to protect Israel’s military edge. “If Arab nations acquire the F-35, the US could limit its capabilities,” as per a previous report in the Jerusalem Post.
If the US decides to go down this route, it could sell the F-35s without the Block 4 upgrade to the RSAF. However, whether such a proposition would be acceptable to the Saudi kingdom is to be seen.
Israel is known to have lobbied hard against a potential sale of F-35 to Turkey. In 2019, reports in Israeli media stated that Israel exploited US disenchantment with Turkey’s purchase of S-400s and worked behind the scenes to ensure that the US denied the sale of F-35s to Turkey, to preserve its military edge.
Similarly, some reports published earlier this year alleged that the Israeli PM was once again lobbying to stop that sale from taking place in 2025, amid fresh momentum in US-Turkish ties.
The one way that the US could preserve the Israeli military edge while exporting the F-35 to Saudi Arabia is by arming Israel with the next-gen F-47.
Donald Trump had earlier declared that he would be open to exporting the “toned down” version of the F-47. This would not only preserve Israel’s military edge in the region but also provide greater assurance to Saudi Arabia and prevent it from straying towards a Russian-Chinese nexus.
Arms shipments to Saudi Arabia have previously been the subject of congressional inquiry, particularly following the 2018 assassination of writer Jamal Khashoggi. In fact, other countries, including Germany, had earlier refused to supply arms to Saudi Arabia due to concerns over the country’s human rights abuses, particularly in Yemen.
If the sale of F-35s stalls again, Saudi Arabia has the option to upgrade its fleet with the Eurofighter Typhoon (Germany has lifted its export veto) or the French Rafale. While the addition of Eurofighter will expand the existing fleet, the Rafale will align with the policy of diversification and boost interoperability with countries like the UAE and Qatar that operate the French fighter jets.
Additionally, the Saudi kingdom could explore entering the Global Air Combat System (GCAP) sixth-generation program alongside the UK, Japan, and Italy, in some capacity. You can read the EurAsian Times article on Saudi Arabia’s possible membership in GCAP here.
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