Even if the Trump White House were to announce its intent, selling the F-35s would take six to eight years and could be undone by a future administration. Many of the top foreign policy advisers to Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic presidential nominee, were officials in the Obama administration and are skeptical of weapons sales to the Gulf Arab nations because of the many civilians killed by the Saudi-led coalition in the Yemen war.
[...] The Emiratis have pushed the Americans to sell them F-35s for at least six years, but Israeli officials have objected. The warplane is designed to have a very low radar signature, and can strike ground targets and engage in air-to-air combat to maintain control of the skies.
“The F-35 has been the single-biggest defense system objective the Emiratis have had for years,” said Barbara A. Leaf, a former U.S. ambassador to the Emirates.
[...] If the sales process moves forward, the State Department would notify Congress. Concerned lawmakers could try to freeze the sale or kill it.
Mr. Trump, Mr. Kushner and other White House aides have strongly advocated arms sales to Gulf Arab nations, which has led to one of the biggest rifts between the administration and Congress.
Since 2017, lawmakers have put holds on proposed arms packages to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, citing the thousands of civilians killed by a Saudi-led coalition in the Yemen war. Many of the civilians died from precision-guided bombs made by Raytheon. In a widely criticized move in 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a declaration of an “emergency” over Iranian activities in the region to bypass Congress in pushing through $8.1 billion of weapons to the two nations.
Administration officials are discussing whether to end an important part of the congressional notification process in future sales.
[...] The Emiratis are trying to buy Predator drones, made by General Atomics. Lawmakers have put a hold on one package. But there is a more powerful drone model, the Reaper, that the Emiratis also seek to buy, and that is part of the White House’s proposed arms sale deal with the F-35s, made by Lockheed Martin.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/world/middleeast/trump-netanyahu-israel-uae.html
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