President Donald Trump projected confidence Nov. 19 that a proposed sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia will sail through the Foreign Military Sales process, an early test of the Pentagon’s acquisition reforms. The deal is also likely to face scrutiny from ally Israel over how it could affect the balance of power in the Middle East.
Speaking at an investment conference in Washington, D.C., and addressing Saudi officials, Trump suggested the FMS process could be wrapped up in record time.
“You’re buying, among many other things, the airplanes, and we’re working on getting that approved very quickly,” Trump said. It’s already approved, but don’t worry. We have to go through a process. The process … will take about 24 hours.”
According to media reports, the Saudis could be looking to buy as many as 48 F-35s. Including initial spare parts and spare engines, the sale could be worth $5.3-$5.7 billion, not including munitions or possible contractor logistics support.
Trump first announced his intent to sell the F-35 to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 17. A day later, meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office, Trump said the F-35s would be “top of the line” and “pretty similar” to those operated by Israel.
That’s important because in 2008, Congress amended the Arms Export Control Act to state that any arms sale “to any country in the Middle East other than Israel shall include a determination that the sale or export of the defense articles or defense services will not adversely affect Israel’s qualitative military edge over military threats to Israel.”
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump waved aside those concerns.
“This is a great ally and Israel is a great ally, and I know they’d like you to get planes of reduced caliber, I don’t think that makes you too happy,” Trump said to the crown prince. “They’ve been a great ally, Israel’s been a great ally, and we’re looking at that exactly right now. But as far as I’m concerned, I think they are both at a level where they should get top of the line.”
An industry official said it remains to be seen whether the F-35s provided to Saudi Arabia will be somehow modified to keep them a notch below those possessed by Israel. A feature of the F-35 program is that all international partners enjoy access to the shared Mission Data Files: a database and catalog of air defense systems, their locations, operating parameters, frequencies, and other essential combat information that instructs F-35 pilots how best to approach and elude air defenses.
Media outlets in Israel quickly reported that the Israeli Air Force has raised concens about the potential sale, presenting a white paper for the Israeli government that the transaction would at least erode if not significantly degrade Israel’s “qualitative military edge” over its Middle East neighbors.
Israel has lobbied against F-35 sales in the past, objecting to the United Arab Emirates and Turkey getting the jets.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, already has hundreds of top-line fourth-generation fighters, including more than 200 advanced versions of the American F-15 and more than 70 Eurofighter Typhoons. But the F-35 would give it a stealth capability it currently does not have; Israel has enjoyed a stealth monopoly in the region with the F-35 since 2016.
Israel has 45 of the jets—which were instrumental in disabling Iranian defenses in recent conflicts with that country—and has 30 more on order. Israel has also modified its F-35s with indigenous software and weapons.
If the F-35 sale goes through, Saudi Arabia would have a much more potent air combat capability, but the size of its air force would not appreciably change position among the world’s largest. Saudi Arabia has the 11th largest air force in the world with about 917 aircraft. Israel, with some 611 aircraft, ranks 16th based on number of tails, though its advanced fighters and tankers give it more power projection capability than some that are larger.
The kingdom could get F-35s more swiftly than foreign customers usually do: the U.S. Air Force is on record as saying it prefers to wait to buy large numbers of F-35s until the in-development Block 4 upgrade comes to fruition. The Air Force only requested 24 F-35s in its fiscal year 2026 budget submission, down from 48 in recent years. Saudi Arabia could potentially take USAF’s place in line for new jets if the U.S. government allows it.
To do that and meet Trump’s ambitious timeline, the foreign military sales process would need to move much more quickly than the months or even years it can take for the U.S. government to formally present an arms transfer proposal to Congress, which in turn can take many months to deliberate such a sale and either proactively approve it or allow it to take place through inaction.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth emphasized recently that the U.S. will move rapidly to act on arms requests and drastically reduce the time it takes for such sales to go through. Laying out acquisition reforms in a Nov. 7 speech, Hegseth said approvals for FMS will now go through the Pentagon’s acquisition organizations rather than its policy offices, in order to “speed weapons sales to foreign governments.”
By statute, Congress reviews foreign arms transfers and can block such sales if they would significantly alter the military balance of power in a given region.
There is also the potential for security concerns. Turkey was ejected from the F-35 program in 2019 when it refused to cancel a deal to buy Russian S-400 air defense systems. The other F-35 partners said that Russian technicians assigned to help Turkey install and operate the air defense systems would learn how to detect and track the stealthy F-35 and compromise other secrets of the fighter.
The same argument could be leveled against Saudi Arabia, which also operates Chinese-made air defense systems. While those systems are designed to operate against drone-class aircraft, they use active electronically-scanned array radars that could compromise some aspects of the F-35. An undisclosed number of Chinese technicians are in Saudi Arabia helping to maintain and operate several Chinese-made military systems, including CSS-2 intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
A spokesperson for Lockheed Martin, which makes the F-35, noted “60 years of partnership” with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and said the F-35 announcement “underscores a shared commitment to security, stability, and long-term cooperation.”
Other major contractors involved with the F-35 are Northrop Grumman, which makes its center fuselage and APG-81 radar; and RTX’s Pratt & Whitney, which builds the fighter’s F135 engine.
