Saudi Arabia’s $24.3 Billion Order for 48 F-35A Fighters Clears Congressional Review Without a Vote

Saudi Arabia’s proposed purchase of 48 F-35A Lightning II fifth generation fighters has cleared the U.S. Congress, with the 30-day review period under the Arms Export Control Act having expired on October 17 without any vote to block the $24.3 billion sale. The only formal challenge, a joint resolution of disapproval introduced by Senator Rand Paul on September 24 as S.J.Res.217, attracted no cosponsors and never left the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The administration can now negotiate a Letter of Offer and Acceptance with Riyadh before contracts are placed with Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney. The outcome puts Saudi Arabia on course to become only the second F-35 operator in the Middle East, which would end a regional monopoly that Israel has held since its first two jets were delivered in December 2016.

The State Department notified Congress of the possible sale on September 17, listing up to 48 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing aircraft and 49 F135-PW-100 engines alongside electronic warfare support, encryption equipment, spares and training, with no missiles or munitions included. The department stated that the sale would help the kingdom “deter current and future threats” and would not alter the basic military balance in the region. The notification followed President Donald Trump’s pledge in November 2025 to approve the jets, made days before Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a Strategic Defense Agreement at the White House on November 18. First deliveries have been estimated for between 2030 and 2032, although no schedule has yet been agreed.

The F-35A would join a Royal Saudi Air Force built around the F-15SA, with 84 new aircraft having been ordered under a $29.4 billion agreement in December 2011 and 70 older F-15S fighters upgraded to the same standard, alongside 72 Eurofighter Typhoons ordered from the United Kingdom in 2007. Some 100 of those fighters have been committed since Riyadh formally joined Yemen’s war in early October, months after an Iranian strike on Prince Sultan Air Base cost the kingdom an RE-3 surveillance jet. Neither type has a low radar signature, and a stealth fighter is expected to significantly improve the kingdom’s ability to strike defended targets, with Saudi Arabia having spent $80.3 billion on its military in 2024.

Israel has lobbied against an unrestricted sale, with the Israel Defense Forces having submitted papers to the political leadership warning that the deal could erode its air superiority, according to the Israeli daily Ynet. U.S. officials told Reuters in November 2025 that the Saudi aircraft would lack some of the weapons and equipment fitted to Israel’s F-35I Adir, and that Riyadh would be limited to two squadrons. Unnamed Israeli defence sources cited by the news site JFeed have since described requests for compensation, including partnership on the Arrow 4 and Arrow 5 interceptors and bunker busting munitions, demands that follow the country’s signing for 12 AH-64E attack helicopters earlier this month, with the Israeli Air Force having ordered 75 F-35 fighters in total.

Concerns over China have shaped the debate in Washington as much as Israel’s edge, with critics pointing to the kingdom’s use of Huawei equipment and its widening ties with Beijing. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi opposed the deal on the grounds that it could place “the crown jewel of American technology” within reach of the Chinese Communist Party. Similar concerns undid the last attempt to sell the fighter in the Gulf, when the United Arab Emirates, cleared in January 2021 to buy 50 F-35As within a $23 billion package, suspended talks with the Biden administration in December 2021.