A UAE official said on Tuesday that the United Arab Emirates has informed the United States that it will suspend discussions to acquire F-35 fighter jets, part of a $23 billion deal that includes drones and other advanced munitions.
The sale of 50 F-35 warplanes made by Lockheed Martin to the UAE had slowed due to concerns in Washington over Abu Dhabi's relationship with China, including use of Huawei 5 G technology in the country.
A UAE official said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal that technical requirements, sovereign operational restrictions, and cost benefit analysis led to the re-assessment.
The United States and the UAE remain the preferred provider for advanced defense requirements and discussions for the F-35 in the future, according to a person who was briefed on the negotiations, who said for several months sticking points between the United States and the UAE revolved around how the stealthy jets can be deployed and how much sophisticated F-35 technology the Emiratis will be allowed to take advantage of. The person asked not to be identified by name or by association with either country.
The UAE had signed an agreement to purchase 50 F-35 jets and up to 18 drones, people familiar with the situation told Reuters in January.
At the Pentagon, spokesman John Kirby said that the U.S. partnership with the UAE was more strategic and complex than a weapons sale and Washington was committed to working with Abu Dhabi to address their questions.
Kirby said that we will always insist on a variety of end use requirements as a matter of statutory requirements and policy.
He said that a meeting between U.S. and UAE officials at the Pentagon later this week was scheduled to be on broad topics but he said that it was expected that the weapons sale would come up.
Kirby referred questions about details of specific arms sales to the State Department.
A State Department official said the Biden administration was committed to the proposed sales of the F-35 aircraft along with the MQ-9 B and munitions, as a condition of anonymity.
The official said we are hopeful that we can work through any outstanding issues.
Lockheed Martin Corp referred requests for comment to the U.S. and UAE governments.
One of Washington's closest Middle East allies, the UAE had expressed interest in acquiring the stealthy F-35 jets, and was promised a chance to buy them in a side deal when it agreed to normalize relations with Israel in August 2020.