‘Possible’ UAE F-35 deal can be inked before Trump administration ends, says top arms officials

WASHINGTON — A top arms sale official believes it is “possible” to get the United Arab Emirates on contract to purchase the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter before the end of the Trump administration.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Heidi Grant , the head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, acknowledged that such a timeline is logistically feasible but noted it would likely require quick action from the UAE.

“If you ask if it’s possible, absolutely it’s possible,” Grant said in response to a question about whether the F-35s could be on contract by Jan. 20, when President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated. “But we don’t control it. We are waiting on the Congress benchmark, then we are going to wait when we offer it to the Emiratis, and it’s up to them as far as timeline. But it’s possible.”

The “Congress benchmark” Grant mentioned is the end of the congressional notification period required by law for all Foreign Military Sales offers. The DSCA notified Congress of the potential sale on Nov. 10, meaning the notification period will end next week.

FMS cases are agreements between a partner nation and Washington, with the Pentagon acting as a go-between for the purchaser and the industrial partner. That means the next step after the notification period ends is the crafting and signing of a letter of agreement between the UAE and the U.S., said R. Clarke Cooper, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs.

“That is a bilateral process between the United States and the UAE, so that does not have a particularly set timeline,” Cooper said. “Obviously when we work on LOAs, in any case, the partners would certainly like to see them sooner than later, but that does not have date specificity.”

The UAE is seeking a massive $23.37 billion arms package, which includes up to 50 F-35A fighters worth $10.4 billion, 18 MQ-9B drones worth $2.97 billion, and $10 billion worth of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions. Those dollar totals are estimates and may shift during final negotiations, but it still represents a massive win for American industry — and a political fight on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers, primarily Democrats, have expressed opposition to the potential sale, saying it ignores risks to sensitive military technology posed by UAE’s ties to Russia and China. And they’re concerns about the threat to Israel’s qualitative military edge , or QME, in the Middle East. The Senate is set to vote next week on legislation to block the sale.

While the sale has been backed by President Donald Trump, there is a belief that the Biden administration may look to block it, and hence there’s a belief in some corners of Congress that the Trump administration is rushing to get the sale done before Jan. 20.

Biden’s pick for secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, told reporters in late October that the deal is “something we would look at very, very carefully, and make sure that the QME is preserved and also very important that Congress play a role.”

In an interview Thursday, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said the Trump administration briefing on the sales that he and other members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee received last month convinced him the sale is being rushed to box in the incoming Biden administration. But he believes the deal, if it’s not defeated in Congress, could be changed by the next president.

“I believe the Biden administration will be able to put additional conditions on sales or hold back weapons, but I haven’t dug into the fine print yet,” Murphy said. “My worry is there are certain sales we will be obligated to make.”

Joe Gould in Washington contributed to this story

Aaron Mehta was deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Defense Department and its international partners.

华盛顿——一位高级军售官员认为，在特朗普政府任期结束前，有可能与阿联酋签订购买F-35联合攻击战斗机的合同。

美国国防安全合作局局长海蒂·格兰特周五在接受记者采访时承认，这样的时间表在后勤上是可行的，但她指出，这可能需要阿联酋迅速采取行动。

“如果你问是否可能，答案当然是肯定的，”格兰特在回答有关F-35战机能否在1月20日——当选总统乔·拜登就职典礼之日——之前签订合同的问题时说道。“但我们无法掌控局面。我们正在等待国会的审批，之后我们会等待何时向阿联酋提出报价，至于时间表，则取决于他们。但这并非不可能。”

格兰特提到的“国会基准”是指所有对外军售提案依法必须经过的国会通知期的结束日期。国防安全合作局（DSCA）已于11月10日向国会通报了这笔潜在的军售，这意​​味着通知期将于下周结束。

对外军售（FMS）案例是指伙伴国与华盛顿之间达成的协议，五角大楼充当买方和工业伙伴之间的中间人。美国负责政治军事事务的助理国务卿R·克拉克·库珀表示，这意味着在通知期结束后，下一步是起草并签署阿联酋和美国之间的协议书。

库珀表示：“这是美国和阿联酋之间的双边进程，因此没有具体的时间表。当然，在签署意向书的过程中，双方都希望尽快看到成果，但这并没有具体的日期限制。”

阿联酋正寻求价值高达233.7亿美元的军售方案，其中包括价值104亿美元的至多50架F-35A战斗机、价值29.7亿美元的18架MQ-9B无人机，以及价值100亿美元的空对空和空对地弹药。这些金额均为预估值，最终谈判中可能会有所变动，但这仍然代表着美国工业的一次巨大胜利，同时也引发了国会山的一场政治博弈。

议员们，主要是民主党人，对这笔潜在的军售表示反对，称其忽视了阿联酋与俄罗斯和中国的关系对敏感军事技术构成的风险。他们还担心这会威胁到以色列在中东的军事优势（QME）。参议院将于下周就阻止这笔军售的法案进行投票。

虽然这笔交易得到了唐纳德·特朗普总统的支持，但有人认为拜登政府可能会阻止它，因此国会的一些人士认为，特朗普政府正在赶在 1 月 20 日之前完成这笔交易。

拜登提名的国务卿人选安东尼·布林肯在 10 月下旬告诉记者，这项协议“我们将非常非常仔细地研究，确保 QME 得到保留，国会发挥作用也非常重要”。

康涅狄格州民主党参议员克里斯·墨菲周四在接受采访时表示，他和参议院外交关系委员会其他成员上个月收到的特朗普政府关于军售的简报让他确信，这笔军售是为了限制即将上任的拜登政府而仓促完成的。但他认为，即使这笔交易没有在国会遭到否决，下一任总统也可能对其进行修改。

“我相信拜登政府能够对武器销售附加更多条件或扣留武器，但我还没有仔细研究过具体条款，”墨菲说。“我担心的是，我们可能不得不进行某些武器销售。”

华盛顿的乔·古尔德对本文亦有贡献。

Aaron Mehta 曾任《国防新闻》副主编兼五角大楼高级记者，负责报道国防部及其国际合作伙伴最高层的政策、战略和采购事宜。