Secrets of Supremacy, Israel, China and Iran... Reasons Behind the Crisis of Selling American F-35 Fighters to the UAE

WASHINGTON -

No official statement was released after a long day of Pentagon discussions between Emirati military officials and their American counterparts on the future of the sale of 50 F-35 aircraft to the UAE, with an initial value of $23 billion.

As the talks entered their second day, there were no signs of resolving the differences between the two parties, which prompted the UAE to demand the cancellation of the deal in the event that the conditions associated with it remain as they are, which it considered a dire need for its sovereignty.

Experts that Al Jazeera Net spoke to pointed out the importance of the timing of the Emirati request, which came 10 days after agreeing to the French aircraft deal, which includes 80 Rafale aircraft worth $16 billion, with which the UAE is in a comfortable position to negotiate terms. Better on the F-35 deal.

While others considered that the lack of knowledge of the two parties' political negotiators in the early stages of the agreement of the nature and accuracy of advanced arms sales may be a factor that contributed to creating a crisis of unrealistic expectations on the Emirati side.

The Wall Street Journal had indicated that the UAE was threatening to withdraw from the arms deal it signed at the end of the administration of former President Donald Trump to buy American F-35 fighters, drones and advanced munitions.

The journalist added that the UAE informed American officials that the security requirements set by the United States to protect high-tech weapons from Chinese espionage are very burdensome.

Unconventional start

The administration of former President Donald Trump notified Congress of a $23 billion arms sale to the UAE, including F-35 aircraft, drones, and various munitions, in November 2020.

This came two months after the UAE signed the Abraham peace agreements with Israel.

In the final hours of Trump's presidency, the UAE signed a deal to buy up to 50 F-35 Joint Attack Fighter jets from the United States.

But the Biden administration ordered the deal to be suspended temporarily, and to be subject to review.

Despite this measure, a US State Department spokesman said last April that the administration plans to move forward with the sale, and that the UAE will become the first Arab country to purchase the F-35 system.

The executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Michael Singh considered the developments between the two allies as unfortunate, and Singh tweeted, "This is unfortunate, but should not cause panic. If the disputed issue is China, it is important for American and Emirati officials." It's better to deal with it now than to do it later."

While Hussein Abish, senior researcher at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, wrote, “I can confirm that the UAE has formally informed the United States that it is no longer willing to purchase F-35s and Reaper drones, citing restrictions on Sovereign use and technological issues. The UAE sees it as being better off without weapons on its current terms."

Hussein Abish is known for his closeness to the UAE government.

A negotiating tactic or a desire to cancel the deal?

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, the head of the Gulf States Analytics Foundation, Giorgio Cafiero, indicated that "it is normal for some countries to use threats of cancellation as a tactic amid negotiations over a huge arms deal in this way, and perhaps this is all that is happening. At the same time, there could be A dimension related to Iran, especially with the recent visit of a high-ranking Emirati delegation to Tehran on a mission to melt the ice between the UAE and Iran.

"Officials in Iran may see this as another sign that Abu Dhabi is seeking not only to ease tensions in the Gulf, but also to become increasingly independent from the orbit of American influence in the Middle East," Cafiero added.

While David de Roche - a professor of security studies at the National Defense University of the Pentagon - considered that the United States sells a lot of weapons on terms, and they are so many conditions that deals with them are described as "rents" rather than "sales", where the buyer must Agrees on how these weapons will be used, stored, and then disposed of.

These measures, he said, are intended to ensure that weapons do not go from the buyer to "evil actors" (for example, an unwelcome third party).

limitations and secrets

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, de Roche considered that "F-35 fighters fall into the category that includes many conditions, because there are severe restrictions on how to use the most advanced aircraft in the world, and one of these conditions is that there are hostile countries (China and Russia) that want "This is why Washington canceled the similar deal with Turkey. That is, the American motive is related to the protection of the most advanced aircraft technology in the world, and no political calculations towards the Emirates are linked to it."

De Roche emphasized that securing the privacy of the F-35's technology is so critical that the United States is willing to cancel the sale even to some NATO countries if there is a fear that there will be no compromise on protecting the aircraft's secrets.

And "if the UAE considers this cumbersome, and it is, and it is, then no one is forcing anyone to buy the plane, and the American position is driven by technological assessments, not politics," stresses de Roche.

In response to Al Jazeera Net's question about the emergence of this problem now, more than a year after the agreement to purchase, de Roche replied by saying, "My guess is that the Abraham Peace Agreements, which were negotiated in complete secrecy, brought together American officials who are not familiar with the technical procedures to protect the technology of most American aircraft. It is an advanced technology that the military considers to be the core of the military technological crown.”

A report issued at the end of last October by the Congressional Research Service stated that the UAE is a large buyer of US military equipment and our most advanced missile defense systems.

This partnership has greatly enhanced the UAE's military capabilities.

The report indicated that US military sales to the UAE amounted to $28.1 billion.

Regarding the F-35, the report stated that "Emirati officials have sought since 2014 to purchase the advanced F-35 fighter jet."

Israel received the plane in 2016, which is a major development in light of US law that requires the United States to maintain Israel's qualitative military progress in the region, which opened the way for the possibility of selling the plane to the Emirates.