President Donald Trump has agreed to proceed with the sale of the United States' most advanced fighter jet, the F-35, to Saudi Arabia, despite significant concerns that China could gain access to the aircraft's vaunted American technology.
The agreement was reaffirmed during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s recent visit to Washington.
Within the Republican administration, apprehension also exists that providing the F-35 to Saudi Arabia could undermine Israel's crucial qualitative military advantage over its neighbors. This concern is particularly salient as Trump seeks Israeli backing for his proposed Gaza peace plan.
Israel, which utilized the F-35 during its 12-day conflict with Iran in June, is one of 19 nations globally that either possess the advanced jet or have agreements in place to acquire it.
It was nearly 20 years ago when the first F-35 Lightning strike fighter rolled off an assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas, hailed as a technological leap and lamented as a military money pit.
Since then, more than 1,200 of the stealth jets have been made, underpinning what Lockheed Martin says are nearly 300,000 jobs connected to its supply chain across 49 states and Puerto Rico. The planes have been delivered to the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines.
Here are things to know about the F-35:
The fighter jet is coveted by many
Marines used the F-35 to execute strikes against enemy targets in Afghanistan, while Italian F-35s were part of a NATO response in September to Russian aircraft in Estonian airspace.
But the stubby-nosed aircraft with twin tail fins has been criticized since its inception, in part because it was designed to serve the varying needs of three different military branches. For example, the Navy launches them off aircraft carriers, while the Marines Corps’ version can take off and land like a helicopter.
It is the most expensive Pentagon spending program ever — they cost up to $77 million a piece in 2023, according to the Congressional Research Service — while they have been famously beset with cost overruns and delays.
Meanwhile, China may have at least some intelligence, albeit several years old, on the planes already. The Defense Science Board, which advises the Pentagon, released a report in 2013 alleging that Chinese cyberattacks accessed data from dozens of Pentagon programs, including the joint strike fighter.
The most advanced U.S. fighter jet
The F-35 is “widely recognized as America’s best and most advanced fighter jet,” according to Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Bowman noted that American military systems are constantly being updated and improved, counteracting any possible stolen secrets years ago.
“That’s why you have 19 partner nations already and why countries like Saudi Arabia want it,” Bowman said. “If the aircraft was so compromised because of theft from the Chinese, the Saudis wouldn’t want it.”
First proposed in the 1990s, the F-35 was meant to replace several aging fighters, including the Air Force’s workhorse F-16. The plane was designed to allow pilots to easily shift from bombing runs to aerial combat on the same mission.
Described as a fifth-generation fighter, its technologies include stealth coatings as well as advanced radar and sensors, according to the Congressional Research Service.
“What makes the F-35 particularly formidable is the increased difficulty our adversaries have in detecting it,” Bowman said. “So if you can’t see it, you can’t kill it.”
Bowman said the plane also has advanced sensors to better detect enemies as well as networking capabilities to communicate with allied planes and ground forces during combat.
Each plane was supposed to be relatively cheap to build, with each variation constructed on the same assembly line. But as the first F-35 prepared for its inaugural flight in 2006, the program’s cost had grown substantially.
High costs for the aircraft
According to a September report from the Government Accountability Office, a Defense Department estimate said maintaining, operating and modernizing the planned 2,470 planes over a 77-year life cycle will exceed $2 trillion.
The report also found that Lockheed delivered 110 aircraft last year, all of which “were late by an average of 238 days, up from 61 days in 2023.”
Meanwhile, there have been concerns about readiness. In 2023, the rate at which the aircraft can perform one of its tasked missions was about 55%, far below program goals, the Government Accountability Office found. Part of the problem was delays in setting up maintenance facilities, inadequate equipment and supply issues.
Dan Grazier, a senior fellow and director of the National Security Reform Program at the Stimson Center, said the F-35 program has ultimately been a failure.
He pointed to the aircraft's stealth coating to evade radar detection, which he said requires a lot of maintenance, while a camera system to provide situational awareness also has had problems.
“It does not matter what kind of transformational combat capability an aircraft has if it cannot be relied upon,” he said,
The F-35 was designed to replace several different older airplanes at once, Grazier said, noting that it does “a lot of things kind of well, but it doesn’t do anything great.”
“It also costs a fortune,” he said. "So you pay a fortune for an aircraft that is actually in many cases less capable than what came before it.”
Lockheed Martin pushed back on such criticisms.
“The F-35 is the cornerstone of the battlespace for 20 allied nations, enabling peace through strength,” the company said in a statement. “It is combat proven and offers the most advanced capability and technology. With more than 1 million hours flown and more than 1,255 aircraft in service, the F-35 is an indispensable contributor to global security.”
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