![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Saudi-Arabia-F-35-Trump-cover-460x259.jpg\")
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For the second time since late last year, reports of U.S. acquiescence for the sale of F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has appeared, this time from President Donald Trump himself. The statement was in Trump\u2019s address at the Future Investment Priority Summit in Miami, Florida, on Mar. 28, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the very first time, we agreed to sell Saudi Arabia perhaps the most capable fighter jet ever built, the F-35,\u201d Trump said. The President also made other comments about U.S. military achievements in the campaign against Iran<\/a>, criticism of the regime in Tehran and burgeoning ties with Riyadh and its leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (MBS), during his nearly 90-minute speech.<\/p>\n On Nov. 4, 2025, <\/a>Reuters<\/em><\/a> reported, quoting White House and DoW officials in deep background, that the Trump administration was considering a sale of 48 F-35s to Saudi Arabia, after the request had \u201ccleared a key Pentagon hurdle.\u201d This was ahead of a MBS\u2019s visit to Washington at the time. The final deal would need to go through formal approval by multiple offices, including Congress, Department of State, Department of Defense, and a Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notification. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This is not to mention a series of diplomatic hurdles with relation to Israel, the outcome of the ongoing war with Iran and wider West Asian politics.<\/p>\n Trump:<\/p>\n We agreed to sell the F-35 to Saudi Arabia. The F-35 is amazing; we sell them very sparingly\u2014we don\u2019t want other people to have them. pic.twitter.com\/s8GvBaXn32<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Clash Report (@clashreport) March 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Arms sales potentially worth nearly $142 billion have driven Trump\u2019s diplomacy with the KSA<\/a> since his return to office, with the White House calling them \u201cthe largest defense cooperation agreement\u201d by Washington. F-35 sales to Saudi Arabia also aids, at least theoretically, eroding Beijing\u2019s rising influence in the West Asia and North Africa region.<\/p>\n However, with countries like Egypt merely using their burgeoning ties with China<\/a> as leverage to accelerate stalled weapons deals<\/a> and extract greater geopolitical concessions, creeping Chinese influence isn\u2019t an immediate threat. At the same time, an F-35 sale to KSA wouldn\u2019t hurt Riyadh\u2019s ties with Beijing either, since it maintains an eastward-shift by joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)<\/a> and participates in the Brazil Russia India China-Plus (BRICS+)<\/a> grouping.<\/p>\n An immediate impact, if any, would be contradicting the stated U.S. policy of maintaining Israel\u2019s qualitative edge in the region. An exception for the KSA to access the F-35 would have been normalizing ties with Israel under the 2020\u2019s Abraham Accords, which Riyadh has still held off from doing, unlike the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Morocco.<\/p>\n Trump repeated that offer at the Future Investment Initiative Priority summit in Miami on Mar. 28, 2026<\/a>, speaking about the region\u2019s future. \u201cThe Middle East will be transformed, and the future of that region is never, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s ever looked brighter [\u2026] We did the Abraham Accords. I hope you\u2019re going to be getting into the Abraham Accords finally,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n This is what Trump said in full about F-35s for KSA at the FFIP<\/a>, while praising Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (MbS):<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I hosted the crown prince at the White House last fall, we officially designated the Kingdom as a major non-NATO ally [\u2026] And for the very first time, we agreed to sell Saudi Arabia perhaps the most capable fighter jet ever built, the F-35.<\/p>\n The F-35 is amazing, and we sell them very sparingly. We don\u2019t want other people to have them. I\u2019m confident that this partnership and so many others around the world will continue to grow and thrive [\u2026]\u201d<\/p>\n\n While Riyadh\u2019s reluctance was in part driven by the situation in Palestine, this is likely to now change. The Gulf countries, which have come under relentless Iranian strikes because they host U.S. military bases and were willing to reconcile with Iran, are now reportedly<\/a> pushing<\/a> Trump to not end<\/a> his campaign prematurely.<\/p>\n If the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) does lay its hands on the F-35A, the aircraft is likely to replace around 80 of the service\u2019s Panavia Tornado IDS strike aircraft. Reuters<\/em><\/a> also reported on Nov. 20, 2025, that Riyadh\u2019s F-35s would not be as sophisticated as the Israeli Air Force\u2019s F-35I Adir, but nevertheless the F-35A would still mark a major capability upgrade.<\/p>\n \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d0\u05d3\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d2\u05dd \u05d1\u05d3\u05e8\u05da \u05dc\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05df \u05ea\u05d9\u05e2\u05d5\u05d3 \u05de\u05d9\u05d5\u05d7\u05d3 \u05e9\u05dc \u05de\u05d8\u05d5\u05e1\u05d9 \u05d4- F-35I \u05d1\u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05dd \u05dc\u05ea\u05e7\u05d9\u05e4\u05d4: pic.twitter.com\/EKf9tPFmlm<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) March 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Tel Aviv has the unique privilege of heavily customizing its Lightning IIs with its own hardware, believed to include encrypted communications, data linking and networking suites. However, the most fascinating inclusions are stealthy 600 gallon drop tanks and Conformal Fuel Tanks<\/a> (CFT), increasing their combat range<\/a> and reducing the need for aerial refuelers during strikes on Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n The rest of the RSAF\u2019s fleet is also capable, consisting of 84 new-build F-15SA, one of the most advanced variants of the Eagle, and 65-68 F-15S aircraft upgraded to the F-15SR (Saudi Retrofit) standard. The service also has 72 Eurofighter Typhoons, although a deal for new aircraft has been frozen because of objections by Germany over human rights issues.<\/p>\n The ongoing war in the Middle East does warrant the need for U.S. and allies to collectively have advanced capabilities, notwithstanding the diplomatic hurdles in mounting a combined U.S., Israeli and Gulf Arab campaign against Iran. By Mar. 29, 2026<\/a>, KSA\u2019s Ministry of Defense<\/a> had reported<\/a> the destruction of one Iranian ballistic missile<\/a> near Riyadh, and 18 drones.<\/p>\n \u05d0\u05dc\u05e4\u05d9 \u05d7\u05d9\u05de\u05d5\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d0\u05dc\u05e4\u05d9 \u05de\u05d8\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea, \u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05de\u05d8\u05e1\u05d9\u05dd | \u05e0\u05ea\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05e2\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05d7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05e4\u05e2\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc-\u05d4\u05d0\u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05e8 \u05de\u05ea\u05d7\u05d9\u05dc\u05ea \u05de\u05d1\u05e6\u05e2 \u201c\u05e9\u05d0\u05d2\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u201d:https:\/\/t.co\/lWCzmbyPlp<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/j7aJ5DjB8H<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) March 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n While the loss<\/a> of three U.S. F-15Es<\/a> and the KC-135 over Iraq<\/a> have been attributed to friendly fire<\/a>, the extremely close attempts on the F-35<\/a>, the F\/A-18 Super Hornet<\/a> and the strike on the KC-135s and the E-3 Sentry AWACS<\/a> at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia bare an undiminished Iranian standoff strike capability.<\/p>\n Analysts had warned even before the latest conflict that Iran would reserve its exquisite ballistic, cruise missile, drone and surface-to-air arsenal for a longer, months-long escalatory campaign. Even after a month of continuous airstrikes, it is being reported that only a third of Iran\u2019s missile arsenal might have been destroyed.<\/p>\n SCOOP!!! \u2014 The United States can only determine with certainty that it has destroyed about a third of Iran\u2019s vast missile arsenal.\n
The geopolitics of selling F-35s to Saudi Arabia<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Saudi-Arabia-F-35-Trump-2-706x397.jpg\")
<\/a>What would it mean for the RSAF<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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![\"\ud83d\ude0c\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f60c.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Saudi-Arabia-F-35-Trump-1-706x397.jpg\")
<\/a>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nThe status of around another third is less clear but bombings likely damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers,\u2026<\/p>\n