State Department approves proposed $24.3B F-35 sale to Saudi Arabia

Lawmaker warns F-35 technology could reach Chinese Communist Party

The U.S. Department of State approved a proposed sale of F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a deal worth $24.3 billion, the department announced Thursday. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seeks to purchase 48 fighter jets and 49 Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engines, 48 of them installed. The sale has been proposed and was approved on Thursday but not yet finalized.

Congress has 30 days to review and possibly object to the sale.

“The proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major non-NATO ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf region,” the State Department said in its notification to Congress.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., warned against the sale, arguing that selling advanced fighter jets to Saudi Arabia may put them within the reach of the Chinese Communist Party.

“Beijing has spent decades stealing American intellectual property and technology to close the gap with the United States, and we must not help them do it,” Krishnamoorthi said in a post on social media. “We must not sell our most advanced fighter jet anywhere the CCP may be able to get its hands on the technology inside it.”

The department said that the United States will not be required to send any additional U.S. government or contractor personnel to Saudi Arabia. In some instances of military sales to foreign nations, U.S. troops and equipment experts are sent to those nations to train their troops on the use of that equipment.

Saudi Arabia has been the target of attacks by Houthi rebels with increasing frequency in recent weeks, causing it to shut down a key oil pipeline in the Persian Gulf and subsequently adding to the strain on the global oil trade. The Houthis, a militant group supported by Iran, has gained control of the Red Sea coast of Yemen over the past two weeks, another critical trade route in the Middle East.

The United States has already expended military capabilities, including munitions, in the Iran war.